Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Necessary; required. See Synonyms at indispensable.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having or exhibiting need or distress; needy; necessitous.
- Necessary; requisite.
- Synonyms Requisite, etc. (see necessary), indispensable.
Wiktionary
- adj. Needed; necessary; mandatory; requisite; indispensible.
- n. Anything necessary or requisite.
- n. Ready money; wherewithal.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Archaic Full of need; in need or want; needy; distressing.
- adj. Necessary for supply or relief; requisite.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. necessary for relief or supply
Etymologies
- From Middle English needeful, nedeful, equivalent to need + -ful. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“It meant they were just sick of this constant idea that the one thing needful is to put more people in the West -- and more people, and yet more people.”
“Methinks it must have been a precursive vapour of the madness that afterwards infolded me, for I know well that there is not one called Death, that he is but a word needful to the weakness of human thought and the poverty of human speech; that he is a no-being, and but a change from that which is.”
“The one thing needful is certainly meant of that which Mary made her choice -- sitting at Christ's feet, to hear his word.”
“Mary was a good Christian and still earnestly seeking the one thing needful, which is full salvation, or holiness of heart and life.”
“Then to make the sight perfect, these things are needful, that is to wit, the cause efficient, the limb of the eye convenient to the thing that shall be seen, the air that bringeth the likeness to the eye, and taking heed, and easy moving.”
“Now a common-place person would have been satisfied with the recommendation of the medical man, who looks but to the one thing needful, which is a sufficient and wholesome supply of nourishment for the child; but Mr Easy was a philosopher, and had latterly taken to craniology, and he descanted very learnedly with the Doctor upon the effect of his only son obtaining his nutriment from an unknown source.”
“Now a commonplace person would have been satisfied with the recommendation of the medical man, who looks but to the one thing needful, which is a sufficient and wholesome supply of nourishment for the child; but Mr Easy was a philosopher, and had latterly taken to craniology, and he descanted very learnedly with the doctor upon the effect of his only son obtaining his nutriment from an unknown source.”
“P.S. No name needful, for you will not be astray about the hand.”
“Ye have large and airy apprehensions of temporal things, which ye call needful, and ye cannot behold eternal things.”
“And, by the way, there is no reason to believe that it was "needful" for Congress to bar slavery in the territories, unless, of course, one accepts John Marshall's evisceration of the word "necessary" in McCulloch.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘needful’.
-
What's next here?
thunderhead, thundercloud, cumulus, cumulonimbus, fibrous, hazy, glaciated, cirrus, nimbus, meteorology, fahrenheit, thermoscope and 285 more...
-
Words I wish would come (back?) into ...
These are words that I find slightly old-fashioned. I confess to reading a lot of Austen and Trollope as of late, which puts me in the mood for this list. N.B. These words don't come directly fr...
jaunty, postprandial, bespoke, naif, quincunx, haberdashery, ingenue, shan't, scrivener, albeit, cheeky, epistolary and 26 more...
-
etymology
preferential, hind, kindling, nonsignificant, intervening, mistakenly, syntactic, streamlined, impassion, impure, involuntary, plaint and 57 more...
-
Interesting Words That Friends and Co...
Good, bad, I hear them all.
needful, bandied, oswego, dubious, dopaminergic, bloviating, vicariously, fractal stupidity
Tweets
Looking for tweets for needful.

missourigal My Indian friends often say, "do the needful," meaning "do what needs to be done." I just like the way it sounds. Jul 22, 2009