demand

plural demands · alternative obsolete demaund · alternative obsolete demaunde

1. countableuncountableThe desire to purchase goods and services.

   Prices usually go up when demand exceeds supply.

   1 more example

   Nevertheless, it is clear that the global energy demand for air-conditioning will grow substantially as nations become more affluent, with the consequences of climate change potentially accelerating the demand.

   2013 September-October, Michael Sivak, “Will AC Put a Chill on the Global Energy Supply?”, in American Scientist

2. countableuncountableeconomicsThe market force that causes buyers to be both willing and able to buy a good or service, as measured by the amount of that good or service that is currently salable at any given price point; the amount itself.

   Supply and demand ebb and flow in a complex interplay.

   1 more example

   Demand for the kitchenware with the pastel colorway has been running low lately, at an average of only 37 units per week.

   Antonyms: supply

3. countableuncountableA forceful claim for something.

   Modern society is responding to women's demands for equality.

   1 more example

   The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;[…]. Our table in the dining-room became again the abode of scintillating wit and caustic repartee, Farrar bracing up to his old standard, and the demand for seats in the vicinity rose to an animated competition.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

4. countableuncountableA requirement.

   His job makes many demands on his time.

   1 more example

   There is a demand for voluntary health workers in the poorer parts of Africa and Asia.

   Synonyms: call, imposition

5. countableuncountableAn urgent request.

   She couldn't ignore the newborn baby's demands for attention.

   Synonyms: call

6. countableuncountableAn order.
7. countableuncountableelectricity supplyMore precisely peak demand or peak load, a measure of the maximum power load of a utility's customer over a short period of time; the power load integrated over a specified time interval.

present singular third person demands · participle present demanding · participle past demanded · past demanded · first person past singular demanded · archaic present second person singular demandest · past second person singular demanded · archaic past second person singular demandedst · present singular third person demands · archaic present singular third person demandeth · past singular third person demanded · past plural demanded · past subjunctive demanded · participle present demanding · participle past demanded · alternative obsolete demaund

1. To request forcefully.

   I demand to see the manager.

   3 more examples

   The police officer will demand (that) you hand the wallet in.

   He demanded that people be imprisoned right and left for inefficiency, and then wondered why they were afraid to take decisions and referred them higher up whenever they could.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 489

   Galactus (Wolf Williams): You know not the power which you command. Unicron (Brent Mukai): Of course I do. Your death I thus demand!

   2023 December 18, “Galactus VS Unicron (Marvel Comics VS Transformers)” (17:15 from the start), in DEATH BATTLE!, season 10, episode 16

2. To claim a right to something.

   The bank is demanding the mortgage payment.

   1 more example

   According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.

   2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55

3. To ask forcefully for information.

   I demand an immediate explanation.

   1 more example

   When Lazarus left his charnel-cave, ⁠And home to Mary’s house return’d, ⁠Was this demanded—if he yearn’d To hear her weeping by his grave?

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 50

   Synonyms: frain

4. To require of someone.

   This job demands a lot of patience.

5. lawTo issue a summons to court.