need not
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See also: need-not
English[edit]
Verb[edit]
need not (third-person singular simple present needs not, present participle needing not, simple past and past participle needed not)
- (chiefly UK, auxiliary, indicating absence of necessity) do not have to, do not need to.
- 2013, Alan Chalmers, What is this thing called Science?, University of Queensland Press, page 36:
- My example illustrates how circularity can arise in arguments that appeal to experiment. But the very same example serves to show that this need not be the case.
- (auxiliary, indicating inadvisability) Ought not to.
- 2018 June 1, Gerard Letterie, “Education is the beacon that lights our path forward in America”, in The Seattle Times:
- Want ads for what little manual labor there was frequently had the stipulation INNA, an acronym for Italians and Irish Need Not Apply.
Usage notes[edit]
In one sense used to show that something is not necessary, indicating non-obligation or non-inevitability. In another sense used to indicate that something should not be done because it is futile. Can be used in either sense without inflectional change for singular and plural subjects alike.