Meanings
must1
archaic first person present singular mote · archaic present second person singular mote · archaic present second person singular motest · archaic present singular third person mote · archaic plural present mote · archaic present subjunctive mote · alternative dialectal mus'
- auxiliarydefectivemodalno past participleno present participleTo do as a requirement; indicates that the sentence subject is required as an imperative or directive to execute the sentence predicate, with failure to do so resulting in a failure or negative consequence.
You must arrive in class on time.
5 more examples
This door handle must be rotated fully.
Everybody told me I must stop worrying, but I couldn't, because I knew that somehow there was still something wrong about the situation.
You really must come and see us soon, pal. - We'll see: I can borrow my dad's car, but I must bring it back before midnight.
The physician said that I must / had to / would have to stop smoking.
Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 9:6 - auxiliarydefectivemodalno past participleno present participleTo do with certainty; indicates that the speaker is certain that the subject will have executed the predicate.
I said it must be pretty late and I really must go.
3 more examples
If it has rained all day, it must be very wet outside.
Where would you have put the keyring? You couldn’t have lost it again! - I must have, because it's nowhere to be found.
She's being taken to the police car now , so they must be going to arrest her.
- auxiliarydefectivemodalno past participleno present participleUsed to indicate that something is very likely, probable, or certain to be true.
The children must be asleep by now.
1 more example
There's the doorbell. It must be Dad.
plural musts · alternative dialectal mus'
- auxiliarydefectivemodalSomething that is mandatory, required or recommended.
If you're trekking all day, a map is a must.
1 more example
"There are no musts in my life - I'm free, white, and twenty-one."
1932, Helen Vinson, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain GangSynonyms: imperative, necessity · Antonyms: no-no
must2
plural musts
- auxiliarycountabledefectivemodaluncountableSomething that exhibits the property of being stale or musty.
- auxiliarycountabledefectivemodaluncountableFruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes (in winemaking) or apples (in cidermaking).
The guide then explained that the must drains from the cider press and runs into the vats where it will ferment.
1 more example
No sweet grape lies hidden here in the shade of its vine-leaves, No fermenting must fills and o'erflows the deep vats.
c. 1874, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ovid in Exile
present singular third person musts · participle present musting · participle past musted · past musted
must3
plural musts
- alternativeauxiliarycountabledefectivemodaluncountableAlternative spelling of musth.
No animal in the world is so dangerous as an elephant in must.
1871, Charles Darwin, “Secondary Sexual Characters of Mammals”, in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. […], volume II, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Part II (Sexual Selection), page 2401 more example
Early one morning the sub-inspector at a police station the other end of the town rang me up on the 'phone and said that an elephant was ravaging the bazaar. Would I please come and do something about it? […] It was not, of course, a wild elephant, but a tame one which had gone "must". It had been chained up, as tame elephants always are when their attack of "must" is due, but on the previous night it had broken its chain and escaped.
1936, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Shooting an Elephant”, in Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays, London: Secker and Warburg, published 1950, →OCLC, pages 2–3
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivehighly recommended
nounthe quality of smelling or tasting old or stale or mouldy
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
must · verb, noun
- Proto-Germanic*mōtaną
- Old Englishmōste“had to”
- Middle Englishmoten“to have to”
- Middle Englishmoste
- Englishmust
From Middle English moste ("must", literally, "had to", the past tense of Middle English moten (“to have to”)), from Old English mōste (“had to”), 1st & 3rd person singular past tense of mōtan (“to be allowed, be able to, have the opportunity to, be compelled to, must, may”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtaną. Cognate with Dutch moest (“had to”), German musste (“had to”), Swedish måste (“must, have to, be obliged to”). More at mote.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →must · noun, verb
- Latinmustum
- Old Frenchmust
- Old Englishmust
- Middle Englishmust
- Englishmust
From Middle English must, from Old English must and Old French must, most, both from Latin mustum.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans moet, mos
- moetbe required to
- mosfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Ancient Greek γλεῦκος
- γλεῦκος (gleûkos)fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Arabic وَجَبَ, يَتَحَتَّم
- وَجَبَ (wajaba)be required to
- يَتَحَتَّم (yataḥattam)be required to
- يَلْزَم (yalzam)be required to
- لَا بُدَّ (lā budda)be required to
- لَابُدَّ (lābudda)said about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- عَصِير (ʕaṣīr)fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Basque muztio
- muztiofruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Bulgarian тря́бва, шира
- тря́бва (trjábva)be required to
- шира (šira)fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Catalan deure, deure
- deurebe required to
- deuresaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- mostfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Chinese Mandarin 應該 /应该, 必須 /必须
- 應該 /应该 (yīnggāi)be required to
- 必須 /必须 (bìxū)be required to
Czech muset, mošt
- musetbe required to
- moštfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Danish skulle
- skullebe required to
Dutch moeten, moetje
- moetenbe required to
- moetjesomething mandatory
- mostfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Esperanto devi, sendube
- devibe required to
- sendubesaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- certesaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- evidentesaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- mostofruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Estonian pidama
- pidamabe required to
Finnish täytyä, täytyä
- täytyäbe required to
- täytyäsaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- pakkosomething mandatory
- välttämättömyyssomething mandatory
- puristemehufruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
French devoir, devoir
- devoirbe required to
- devoirsaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- mustsomething mandatory
- obligationsomething mandatory
- moût m or moutfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
German müssen, Muss
- müssenbe required to
- Musssomething mandatory
- Mostfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Greek πρέπει, αναγκαιότητα
- πρέπει (prépei)be required to
- αναγκαιότητα (anagkaiótita)something mandatory
- υποχρέωση (ypochréosi)something mandatory
- μούστος (moústos)fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Hebrew חַיָּב, תִּירוֹשׁ
- חַיָּב (ẖayyáv)be required to
- תִּירוֹשׁ (tirósh)fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Hindi चाहिए, पड़ना
- चाहिए (cāhie)be required to
- पड़ना (paṛnā)be required to
- होगा (hogā)be required to
Hungarian kell, muszáj
- kellbe required to
- muszájbe required to
- biztossaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- bizonyárasaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- minden bizonnyalsaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- alighanemsaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- biztosansaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- kétségkívülsaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- kétségtelenülsaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- mustfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Icelandic verða, berjalögur
- verðabe required to
- berjalögurfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Indonesian harus
- harusbe required to
Irish caithfidh, is éigean
- caithfidhbe required to
- is éigeanbe required to
- ní foláirbe required to
- bí arbe required to
Italian dovere, dovere
- doverebe required to
- doveresaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- obbligosomething mandatory
- doveresomething mandatory
- mostofruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Japanese ...なきゃ, ...なくちゃ
- ...なきゃ (...nakya)be required to
- ...なくちゃ (...nakucha)be required to
Korean -어야 하다, -어야 되다
- -어야 하다 (-eoya hada)be required to
- -어야 되다 (-eoya doeda)be required to
- -겠- (-get-)said about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- -을 것이다 (-eul geosida)said about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
Latin debeō, debere
- debeōbe required to
- deberebe required to
- futurus sumbe required to
- servandus sumbe required to
- obligorbe required to
- mustumfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Lithuanian privalo
- privalobe required to
Malay mesti
- mestibe required to
Norwegian måtte, krav
- måttebe required to
- kravsomething mandatory
- mustsomething mandatory
Norwegian Bokmål most
- mostfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Persian باید, باید
- باید (bâyad)be required to
- باید (bâyad)said about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- پوراب (purâb)fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
- مشتفشار (moštafšār)fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
- باده (bāde)fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Polish musieć, musieć
- musiećbe required to
- musiećsaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- mussomething mandatory
- moszczfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Portuguese dever, dever
- deverbe required to
- deversaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- deversomething mandatory
- mostofruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Romanian trebui, must
- trebuibe required to
- mustfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Russian до́лжен, должна́
- до́лжен (dólžen)be required to
- должна́ (dolžná)be required to
- должно́ (dolžnó)be required to
- должны́ (dolžný)be required to
- должно́ быть (dolžnó bytʹ)said about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- наве́рное (navérnoje)said about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- маст (mast)something mandatory
- муст (must)fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Slovak musieť, mušt
- musieťbe required to
- muštfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Spanish deber, deber de
- deberbe required to
- deber debe required to
- deber desaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- debersaid about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- mostofruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Swahili lazima
- lazimabe required to
Swedish måste, måste
- måstebe required to
- måstesomething mandatory
- mustfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Tagalog dapat
- dapatbe required to
Tamil வேண்டும், வேண்டும்
- வேண்டும் (vēṇṭum)be required to
- வேண்டும் (vēṇṭum)said about something that is very likely, probable, or certain to be true
- கட்டாயம் (kaṭṭāyam)something mandatory
Thai ต้อง
- ต้อง (dtɔ̂ng)be required to
Turkish -meli, -malı
- -melibe required to
- -malıbe required to
- lazım olmakbe required to
- gerek olmakbe required to
- gerekliliksomething mandatory
- zorunluluksomething mandatory
- olmazsa olmazsomething mandatory
- şartsomething mandatory
- koşulsomething mandatory
- şırasomething mandatory
- şırafruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Ukrainian му́сити, пови́нний
- му́сити (músyty)be required to
- пови́нний (povýnnyj)be required to
- пови́нен (povýnen)be required to
Urdu چاہئے, پڑنا
- چاہئے (cāhie)be required to
- پڑنا (paṛnā)be required to
- ہو گا (hogā)be required to
Vietnamese phải
- phảibe required to
Welsh gorfod, gwin newydd
- gorfodbe required to
- gwin newyddfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
- mwstfruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes
Yiddish מוזן
- מוזן (muzn)be required to
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with must
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
must. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/must
“must.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/must. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “must,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/must.
Source: must on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.