if needs be Definition

need
verb needed, needing

1. To lack; to require.

Thesaurus: lack, require, necessitate, crave, demand, miss, want, be bereft of, be deprived of, be deficient in, ; Antonym: own, have, hold.
intr
2. (also as auxiliary verb ― see Usage Note) to be required or obliged to be or do something.

Example: We need to find a replacement
Example: They needn't stay

noun

1. Something one requires.

Thesaurus: requirement, necessity, demand, want, wish.
2. A condition of lacking or requiring it; an urge or desire.

Thesaurus: insufficiency, lack, shortage, inadequacy, exigency, requirement, compulsion, want, urge, wish; Antonym: sufficiency.
Form: need of something
Form: need for something
3. Necessity or justification for it.

Form: need for something

Idiom: if need be (if needs be)

If necessary.
Thesaurus: if necessary, if the occasion demands, if it is required.

Idiom: in need

Needing help or financial support. See also needs.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon nead or nied.

Info:

Need may be used either as an ordinary intransitive verb or as an auxiliary verb.

○ When need is used as an intransitive verb, the form of the verb accompanying ‘he/she/it' ends in ‘-s', questions and negative statements are formed with the auxiliary verb ‘do', and a following verb is preceded by ‘to' &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; &wbox;

○ When need is used as an auxiliary verb, the verb accompanying ‘he/she/it' has no ‘-s' ending, questions and negative statements are formed without ‘do', and there is no ‘to' before the following verb&wbox; &wbox; This auxiliary-verb construction is possible only in questions and negative statements in the present tense.