Need vs. Demand — What's the Difference?

A need is something that is necessary for an organism to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants.

In economics, demand is the quantity of a good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given period of time. The relationship between price and quantity demanded is also called the demand curve.

A condition or situation in which something must be supplied in order for a certain condition to be maintained or a desired state to be achieved

An insistent and peremptory request, made as of right

Something required or wanted; a requisite

Ask authoritatively or brusquely

Necessity; obligation

To ask for urgently or peremptorily

A condition of poverty or misfortune

To claim as just or due

To be under the necessity of or the obligation to

To ask to be informed of

To have need of; require

To require as useful, just, proper, or necessary; call for

To have an obligation (to do something)

To lay legal claim to; claim formally.

To be subject (to an action) by obligation

To ask that (something) be done in accordance with a legal requirement.

To want to be subject to

To make a demand.

To be in need or want.

An act of demanding; an urgent request.

To be necessary.

Something demanded

A requirement for something; something needed.

An urgent requirement or need

Lack of means of subsistence; poverty; indigence; destitution.

The state of being sought after

(transitive) To have an absolute requirement for.

(Economics) The desire for goods or services in an economy, measured as the amount people are ready to buy at a given price

(transitive) To want strongly; to feel that one must have something.

A formal claim.

(modal verb) To be obliged or required (to do something).

A request that some act be done or payment made in accordance with a legal requirement.

(intransitive) To be required; to be necessary.

(Archaic) An emphatic question or inquiry.

To be necessary (to someone).

The desire to purchase goods and services.

A state that requires supply or relief; pressing occasion for something; necessity; urgent want.

(economics) The amount of a good or service that consumers are willing to buy at a particular price.

Want of the means of subsistence; poverty; indigence; destitution.

A forceful claim for something.

That which is needful; anything necessary to be done; (pl.) necessary things; business.

A requirement.

Situation of need; peril; danger.

An urgent request.

To be in want of; to have cause or occasion for; to lack; to require, as supply or relief.

An order.

To be wanted; to be necessary.

(electricity supply) More 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.

Of necessity. See Needs.

To request forcefully.

A condition requiring relief;

To claim a right to something.

Anything that is necessary but lacking;

To ask forcefully for information.

The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior;

To require of someone.

A state of extreme poverty or destitution;

(legal) To issue a summons to court.

Require as useful, just, or proper;

To ask or call for with authority; to claim or seek from, as by authority or right; to claim, as something due; to call for urgently or peremptorily; as, to demand a debt; to demand obedience.

Have need of;

To inquire authoritatively or earnestly; to ask, esp. in a peremptory manner; to question.

Have or feel a need for;

To require as necessary or useful; to be in urgent need of; hence, to call for; as, the case demands care.

To call into court; to summon.

To make a demand; to inquire.

The act of demanding; an asking with authority; a peremptory urging of a claim; a claiming or challenging as due; requisition; as, the demand of a creditor; a note payable on demand.

Earnest inquiry; question; query.

A diligent seeking or search; manifested want; desire to possess; request; as, a demand for certain goods; a person's company is in great demand.

That which one demands or has a right to demand; thing claimed as due; claim; as, demands on an estate.

The asking or seeking for what is due or claimed as due.

The ability and desire to purchase goods and services;

An urgent or peremptory request;

A condition requiring relief;

The act of demanding;

Required activity;

Request urgently and forcefully;

Require as useful, just, or proper;

Claim as due or just;

Lay legal claim to

Summon to court

Ask to be informed of;