Standard Lemma guide

required

adj · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

General-American: /ɹɪˈkwaɪɹd/
Received-Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈkwaɪəd/
US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -aɪə(ɹ)d
CMU ARPABET: R IY0 K W AY1 ER0 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
CMU ARPABET 2: R IY0 K W AY1 R D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

adj

Meaning 1

Necessary; obligatory; mandatory.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

required course
legally required
Attendance at the meeting is required.
He completed the required reading before class.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: requisite

Antonyms: none provided

verb

Meaning 2

simple past and past participle of require

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, participle, past

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

required by rule

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

in most schools physical education is compulsory
attendance is mandatory
required reading

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: compulsory, mandatory

Antonyms: none provided

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

necessary for relief or supply

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

provided them with all things needful

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: needed, needful, requisite

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Word forms

Inflections and variants

more required — comparative
most required — superlative

Word family

Derived and related words

Derived: nonrequired, required run rate, unrequired

Related: obligatory, necessary

Spelling and sound

Hyphenation and homophones

Hyphenation: re·quired

Semantic map

Other relationships

Sources

Where this information comes from

Wiktionary data was expanded into structured fields by Wiktextract. Matching Princeton WordNet definitions and semantic relationships, plus CMUdict ARPABET pronunciations, are merged into this same canonical word page.

Wiktionary text is credited to English Wiktionary contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. The source entry and revision history URL, legal text, and the complete attribution and reuse instructions are collected on the site-wide Sources, credits & licenses page.

Changes made: Wiktionary markup was removed and matching senses were grouped; WordNet and CMUdict evidence was merged into the canonical word page. Source quotations with separate cited works are not republished.

The page is served entirely from a local, versioned copy; opening it makes no upstream request or external navigation.

Real reading context

Examples

Meaning relationships

Meaning relationships

Examples

Meaning relationships

Examples

Meaning relationships

required in complete knowledge articles