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Need vs Use - What's the difference?

need | use |

As verbs the difference between need and use

is that need is to be necessary (to someone) while use is .

As a noun need

is a requirement for something.

need

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) need, nede, partly from (etyl) . More at (l). Old norse nauð(r) ("powerty,distress, lack of")

Noun

(en noun)
  • A requirement for something.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • I have no need to beg.
  • * (Jeremy Taylor) (1613–1677)
  • Be governed by your needs , not by your fancy.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= It's a gas , passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains.
  • Something required.
  • Lack of means of subsistence; poverty; indigence; destitution.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Famine is in thy cheeks; / Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes.
    Usage notes
    * Adjectives often used with "need": urgent, dire, desperate, strong, unmet, bad, basic, critical, essential, big, terrible, modest, elementary, daily, everyday, special, educational, environmental, human, personal, financial, emotional, medical, nutritional, spiritual, public, developmental, organizational, legal, fundamental, audio-visual, psychological, corporate, societal, psychosocial, functional, additional, caloric, private, monetary, physiological, mental.
    Derived terms
    (Derived terms) * if need be * in need, in need of; a friend in need is a friend indeed * need-based * needful, needfully, needfulness * needless, needlessly, needlessness * needy, needily, neediness

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) neden, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To be necessary (to someone).
  • * , II.ix:
  • More ample spirit, then hitherto was wount, / Here needes me.
  • (label) To have an absolute requirement for.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Tom Fordyce, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland , passage=Scotland needed a victory by eight points to have a realistic chance of progressing to the knock-out stages, and for long periods of a ferocious contest looked as if they might pull it off.}}
  • (label) To want strongly; to feel that one must have something.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
  • (label) To be obliged or required (to do something).
  • (label) To be required; to be necessary.
  • * (John Locke) (1632-1705)
  • When we have done it, we have done all that is in our power, and all that needs .
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.}}
    Usage notes
    * The verb is construed in a few different ways: ** With a direct object, as in “I need your help.” ** With a to -infinitive, as in “I need to go.” Here, the subject of serves implicitly as the subject of the infinitive. ** With a clause of the form “for [object] to [verb phrase]”, or simply “[object] to [verb phrase]” as in “I need for this to happen” or “I need this to happen.” In both variants, the object serves as the subject of the infinitive. ** As a modal verb, with a bare infinitive; in negative polarity contexts, such as questions (“Need I say more?”), with negative expressions such as not (“It need not happen today”; “No one need ever know”), and with similar constructions (“There need only be a few”; “it need be signed only by the president”; “I need hardly explain the error”). . ** With a gerund-participle, as in “The car needs washing”, or (in certain dialects) with a past participle, as in “The car needs washed”[http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003106.html] (both meaning roughly “The car needs to be washed”). ** With a direct object and a predicative complement, as in “We need everyone here on time” (meaning roughly “We need everyone to be here on time”) or “I need it gone” (meaning roughly “I need it to be gone”). ** In certain dialects, and colloquially in certain others, with an unmarked reflexive pronoun, as in “I need me a car.” * A sentence such as “I need you to sit down” or “you need to sit down” is more polite than the bare command “sit down”, but less polite than “please sit down”. It is considered somewhat condescending and infantilizing, hence dubbed by some “the kindergarten imperative”, but is quite common in American usage.You Need To Read This: How need to vanquished have to, must, and should.” by Ben Yagoda, Slate, July 17, 2006
    Synonyms
    * (desire) desire, wish for, would like, want, will (archaic) * (lack) be without, lack * (require) be in need of, require
    Derived terms
    * needed, unneeded * need-to-know basis

    References

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words ----

    use

    English

    (wikipedia use)

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) from Old English nytt.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of using.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author= Ed Pilkington
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= ‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told , passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}
  • Usefulness, benefit.
  • * Milton
  • God made two great lights, great for their use / To man.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • 'Tis use alone that sanctifies expense.
  • A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=(Leo Hickman)
  • , volume=189, issue=7, page=26, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= How algorithms rule the world , passage=The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.}}
  • Occasion or need to employ; necessity.
  • I have no further use for these textbooks.
  • (obsolete, rare) Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.
  • * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Much Ado About Nothing) ,
  • DON PEDRO. Come, lady, come; you have lost the heart of Signior Benedick.
    BEATRICE. Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart for a single one: [...]
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him.
  • (archaic) Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.
  • * Spenser
  • Let later age that noble use envy.
  • * Shakespeare
  • How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, / Seem to me all the uses of this world!
  • (obsolete) Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
  • * Shakespeare
  • O Caesar! these things are beyond all use .
  • (religion) The special form of ritual adopted for use in any diocese.
  • the Sarum, or Canterbury, use'''; the Hereford '''use'''; the York '''use'''; the Roman '''use ; etc.
  • * Book of Common Prayer
  • From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use .
  • (forging) A slab of iron welded to the side of a forging, such as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging.
  • Synonyms
    * (act of using) employment, usage, note, nait * (usefulness) benefit, good, point, usefulness, utility, note, nait
    Derived terms
    * disuse * fair use * hyper-use * misuse * no use * overuse * reuse * underuse * useful * useless * usement * what’s the use

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) ).

    Verb

    (us)
  • (archaic) To accustom; to habituate.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608–1674)
  • *:Thou with thy compeers, / Used to the yoke, draw'st his triumphant wheels.
  • To employ; to apply; to utilize.
  • :
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
  • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • To exhaust the supply of; to consume by employing
  • :
  • To exploit.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author= Katie L. Burke
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= In the News , passage=Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.}}
  • (dated) To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608–1674)
  • *:How wouldst thou use me now?
  • *(Joseph Addison) (1672–1719)
  • *:Cato has used me ill.
  • To habitually do; to be wont to do.
  • :
  • *Bible, 1 (w) iv.9
  • *:Use hospitality one to another.
  • *, I.48:
  • *:Peter Pol'', doctor in divinitie used to sit upon his mule, who as ''Monstrelet'' reporteth, was wont to ride up and downe the streets of ''Paris , ever sitting sideling, as women use .
  • * 1693 , Sir Norman Knatchbull, Annotations upon some difficult texts in all the books of the New Testament
  • For in the Rites of funeration they did use to anoint the dead body, with Aromatick Spices and Oyntments, before they buried them.
  • (past tense with infinitive) To habitually do. See used to.
  • :
  • Synonyms
    * engage, utilise * (exploit) take advantage of
    Derived terms
    * abuse * disuse * reuse * misuse * usability * usable * usage * used * used to * useful * user

    References

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    Statistics

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