Required

How to spell required

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce required

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does required mean?

1. verbPast tense of require: made something necessary, or officially demanded it.
2. adjectiveOfficially necessary or mandatory rather than optional.

Required in a sentence

• verb

  The new role required several years of management experience.

• adjective

  Safety goggles are required in every part of the laboratory.

• verb

  The contract required both parties to sign within thirty days.

• adjective

  The course has three required textbooks and several optional ones.

Where does required come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past tense and adjectival form of the verb 'require', which English took from the Old French verb 'requerre' in the 1300s. That French word grew out of the Latin 'requirere', built from the prefix 're-', here acting as an intensifier, and the verb 'quaerere', meaning 'to seek, to ask, or to demand'. The earliest English uses leaned on the 'asking' sense, so to require something was to request or ask after it; over the centuries the meaning hardened into the modern notion of a strict need or an enforced demand. The same Latin 'quaerere' lies behind a whole family of familiar English words, including 'query', 'inquire', 'question', and 'conquer', all of which carry that core idea of seeking or asking. The spelling keeps the French-influenced '-quir-' cluster, which is the usual trap, since the sound suggests a 'kwire' that some writers are tempted to render differently.

How the word is built

• re- (intensive, originally 'again')
• quire (from Latin quaerere: to seek or ask)
• -ed (past tense / adjectival suffix)