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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

need not en · VERB

Meanings

  1. (UK, auxiliary, no-past-participle, no-present-participle) Indicating absence of necessity; needn't, do(es) not have to, do(es) not need to.
    • 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. 2013, Alan Chalmers, What is this thing called Science?, University of Queensland Press, page 36:
  2. (auxiliary, dated, no-past-participle, no-present-participle) Indicating inadvisability; ought not to.
    • Want ads for what little manual labor there was frequently had the stipulation INNA, an acronym for Italians and Irish Need Not Apply. 2018 June 1, Gerard Letterie, “Education is the beacon that lights our path forward in America”, in The Seattle Times:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
need not Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
needed not Tense=Past lexicographic

Synonyms

needn't · not have to

Translations (3)

eo devi ne (presence of necessity to not do) · cmn 不用 (absence of necessity to do) · eo ne devi (absence of necessity to do)