Needful vs Needly - What's the difference?
needful | needly |
Needed; necessary; mandatory; requisite; indispensible.
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(archaic) Zealously; carefully; earnestly.
(archaic) Necessarily; of necessity.
(archaic) Urgently.
(informal) Like a needle or needles.
As adjectives the difference between needful and needly
is that needful is needed; necessary; mandatory; requisite; indispensible while needly is (informal) like a needle or needles.As a noun needful
is anything necessary or requisite.As an adverb needly is
(archaic) zealously; carefully; earnestly or needly can be (archaic) necessarily; of necessity.needful
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- So I went to keep house with him at the Why Not? and my aunt sent down my bag of clothes, and would have made over to Elzevir the pittance that my father left for my keep, but he said it was not needful , and he would have none of it.
Usage notes
(Do the needful) Commonly found in phrases such as "do the needful" or "please do the needful"; which occur commonly in Indian English but are held as archaic in other dialects; nonetheless being heard more and more by speakers of said dialects in their interactions with speakers of Indian English. This has to some extent lead to these phrases being seen as stereotypical of Indian English and used in a parodying context by speakers of other dialects, some of whom may find their usage odd and/or pretentious.Derived terms
* do the needfulneedly
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) needely, neodliche, from (etyl) .Adverb
(en-adv)Etymology 2
From (etyl) needely, nedelich, from (etyl) .Adverb
(en-adv)Etymology 3
From .Adjective
(en-adj)- a needly''' horn; a '''needly beard