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# needful

«needful» in Mova's school dictionary: **Needed or necessary** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adjective (needful — old-fashioned); noun (the needful — informal)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (old-fashioned, formal) Needed or necessary. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/needful/#m1)

2) (informal, UK) The needful is what is needed, often money: Dad will provide the needful. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/needful/#m2)

3) (Indian English) Do the needful means do what is necessary; many English speakers elsewhere find it old-fashioned. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/needful/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In old books and the Bible, needful means necessary: one thing is needful. In everyday talk, it is rare; children are more likely to say needed or necessary. In emails in India and some other places, please do the needful is common. Phrases: do the needful, the needful.

### examples

- Take only what is needful for the journey. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/needful/#x1)
- In the Bible, Jesus told Martha that one thing is needful. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/needful/#x2)
- Mum said she'd do the needful and pay for the trip. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/needful/#x3)
- Please do the needful and send the form. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/needful/#x4)
- Water and food are needful for life. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/needful/#x5)
- He packed the needful things in a small bag. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/needful/#x6)
- Meanwhile, I will do what is needful here. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/needful/#x7)

### note

Old-fashioned; in school writing, use necessary or needed. Not the same as needy (poor or wanting attention).

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «needful» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/needful/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.