Word.ws English Dictionary

if need be

if need be adverb: if necessary; if there is a need.

Adverb

if need be

  1. (idiomatic) If necessary; if there is a need.
    • And I am quite sure that Max Carrados won't walk in here without making it certain that if he doesn't soon come out again the C.I.D. will smash down the door if need be to find out what has happened.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London

if need be meaning in Tamil, Bengali and Persian

if need be in Tamil

தேவையிருப்பின், தேவையிருந்தால்

if need be in Bengali

যদি প্রয়োজন হয়, যদি দরকার পড়ে

if need be in Persian

if necessary
اگر لازم شد agar lāzem shod

Forms of if need be

alternative formif needs be

Origin of if need be

Need is a noun, be a subjunctive. Perhaps an alteration of Old English phrases like ġif þearf bēo, literally "if need be". That phrase would have been completely unidiomatic, equivalent to "if a need exists" or "if there is a need". This is because (1) Old English had no indefinite article, (2) the word for "to be" was also the default word for "to exist" and translates the modern phrase "there is", and (3) the subjunctive mood was much more common and often translates the Modern English indicative.

Questions about if need be

What does if need be mean?
If need be means if necessary; if there is a need.
What is if need be in Tamil?
If need be in Tamil is தேவையிருப்பின், தேவையிருந்தால். See If need be meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is if need be?
If need be is an adverb.

Words near if need be in the dictionary

  1. if my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a streetcar
  2. if my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a wagon
  3. if my sister had balls, she'd be my brother
  4. if my uncle had a fanny, he'd be my aunt
  5. if my uncle had tits, he'd be my aunt
  6. if need be
  7. if needs be
  8. if not
  9. if not for
  10. if nothing else
  11. if one is a day

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: if need be (page history and authors); if need be (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); if need be (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-if need be.ogg.

Cite this entry: “if need be.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/if_need_be. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.