needn't

need·n't
/niːdn̩t/

verb

Need not.

“I needn’t have washed the car: shortly after it started raining.”

Similar
did/does/do not have to/need to

Meanings

verb
  1. UKauxiliaryformalliterarynegativeNeed not.

    I needn’t have washed the car: shortly after it started raining.

    5 more examples

    We needn’t go to sleep early because tomorrow morning school starts late.

    I've worked many's the time to make up for the wages he's squandered, and I need a drop to keep up my strength. Take it good and leave it good, that's what I do; and if Jem did the same, he'd be welcome to it for all I should say to him, and he needn't sign no more than me. The [temperance] pledge is a very good thing for them as can't manage theirselves, and its kind in you, Mr. Watts, to come round and talk to the people, and get the drunkards to leave off the drink; but, bless you, I needn't sign.

    1871 April 1, M. A. Paull, “‘I Needn’t Sign.’ (A Story for Wives, Founded on Fact.)”, in The Western Temperance Herald: The Official Organ of the Western Temperance League, volume XXXV, number 4, London: Houlston & Sons, 65, Paternoster Row; Yeovil: Clinker & Tite, →OCLC, page 54

    ‘Oh no,’ said the boy casually. ‘I won’t think much about them, mother. You needn’t worry. I wouldn’t worry, mother, if I were you.’ / ‘If you were me and I were you’, said his mother, ‘I wonder what we should do!’ / ‘But you know you needn’t worry, mother, don’t you?’ the boy repeated.

    1926 July, D[avid] H[erbert Richards] Lawrence, “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, Harper's Bazaar, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Corporation, OCLC 1639362

    There were perhaps half a dozen occasions on which he might have withdrawn and returned to the life that had been marked out for him. He needn't have been tortured in South Africa; he needn't have written his book; he needn't have taken the job with Sablich's; having taken the job, he needn't have become associated with Thrushcross Grange and Jimmy Ahmed.

    1975, V. S. Naipaul, Guerrillas, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN

    Of course, since he's Judy's lover he had to say she's got nicer legs! It's true he needn't have been so assertive about it. That wasn't very tactful towards poor Li; Li is right when she says that Fred is an egoistic lout. A terrible lout.

    1996, Karel Čapek, “The Yacht on the Lagoon”, in M. Weatherall, R. Weatherall, transl., War with the Newts, Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, →ISBN, page 75

    Synonyms: did/does/do not have to/need to

Synonyms & antonyms

verbNeed not.

Similar
did/does/do not have to/need to
Also see

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

needn't. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/needn't

MLA

“needn't.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/needn't. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “needn't,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/needn't.

Source: needn't on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.