Library / English Dictionary

DEMAND

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of demanding

Example:

the kidnapper's exorbitant demands for money

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("demand" is a kind of...):

activity (any specific behavior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "demand"):

exaction (act of demanding or levying by force or authority)

claim (demand for something as rightful or due)

Derivation:

demand (request urgently and forcefully)

demand (claim as due or just)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Required activity

Example:

there were many demands on his time

Synonyms:

demand; requirement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("demand" is a kind of...):

duty; obligation; responsibility (the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force)

Derivation:

demand (require as useful, just, or proper)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An urgent or peremptory request

Example:

his demands for attention were unceasing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("demand" is a kind of...):

petition; postulation; request (a formal message requesting something that is submitted to an authority)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "demand"):

challenge (a demand by a sentry for a password or identification)

ultimatum (a final peremptory demand)

insistence; insisting (continual and persistent demands)

call; claim (a demand especially in the phrase)

requisition (the act of requiring; an authoritative request or demand, especially by a military or public authority that takes something over (usually temporarily) for military or public use)

call (a demand for a show of hands in a card game)

call; margin call (a demand by a broker that a customer deposit enough to bring his margin up to the minimum requirement)

pay claim; wage claim (the wage demanded from management for workers by their union representatives)

Derivation:

demand (request urgently and forcefully)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The ability and desire to purchase goods and services

Example:

the demand exceeded the supply

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("demand" is a kind of...):

economic process (any process affecting the production and development and management of material wealth, or, according to Carmine Gorga, Ph.D., author of the book 'The Economic Process', the process of production of real wealth, distribution of ownership rights over real and monetary wealth, and consumption or expenditure of monetary wealth to purchase real wealth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "demand"):

consumption; economic consumption; usance; use; use of goods and services ((economics) the utilization of economic goods to satisfy needs or in manufacturing)

Antonym:

supply (offering goods and services for sale)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A condition requiring relief

Example:

there is a demand for jobs

Synonyms:

demand; need

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("demand" is a kind of...):

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "demand"):

deficiency; lack; want (the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable)

necessity (the condition of being essential or indispensable)

Derivation:

demand (require as useful, just, or proper)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Request urgently and forcefully

Example:

She demanded to see the manager

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "demand" is one way to...):

ask for; bespeak; call for; quest; request (express the need or desire for)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "demand"):

ask (require or ask for as a price or condition)

dun (persistently ask for overdue payment)

clamor; clamour (make loud demands)

ask; expect; require (consider obligatory; request and expect)

want (wish or demand the presence of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They demand to move

Derivation:

demand (the act of demanding)

demand (an urgent or peremptory request)

demander (a person who makes demands)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Claim as due or just

Example:

The bank demanded payment of the loan

Synonyms:

demand; exact

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "demand" is one way to...):

claim (ask for legally or make a legal claim to, as of debts, for example)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "demand"):

command (demand as one's due)

call; call in (demand payment of (a loan))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something from somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

The banks demand the check

Derivation:

demand (the act of demanding)

demander (a person who makes demands)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Ask to be informed of

Example:

I demand an explanation

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "demand" is one way to...):

ask for; bespeak; call for; quest; request (express the need or desire for)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Summon to court

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "demand" is one way to...):

cite; summon; summons (call in an official matter, such as to attend court)

Verb group:

demand (lay legal claim to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sense 5

Meaning:

Lay legal claim to

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "demand" is one way to...):

claim (ask for legally or make a legal claim to, as of debts, for example)

Verb group:

demand (summon to court)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Require as useful, just, or proper

Example:

This intervention does not postulate a patient's consent

Synonyms:

ask; call for; demand; involve; necessitate; need; postulate; require; take

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Verb group:

claim; exact; take (take as an undesirable consequence of some event or state of affairs)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "demand"):

claim; exact; take (take as an undesirable consequence of some event or state of affairs)

govern (require to be in a certain grammatical case, voice, or mood)

draw (require a specified depth for floating)

cost (require to lose, suffer, or sacrifice)

cry for; cry out for (need badly or desperately)

compel (necessitate or exact)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

demand (required activity)

demand (a condition requiring relief)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The king still would not give him the promised reward, and made a third demand.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

We have enough vaccines to meet this demand.

(Aedes mosquitoes almost impossible to eradicate, says Brazilian researcher, Agência Brasil)

You will be in demand in your company and your industry, so financially, you will be set.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The next thing he demanded was one of the hollow iron pillars; by which he meant my pocket pistols.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

"What in hell has Latin to do with it?" he demanded before his mirror that night.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Walrus ivory was once a luxury in high demand and was widely traded in the Viking Age and across Medieval Europe.

(Extinction of Icelandic walrus coincides with Norse settlement, National Science Foundation)

Of course, with a warrant we could demand to see the counterfoils, but we have not reached that stage yet.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One manufacturer, Unilever, stopped adding triclosan to its products in response to consumer demand, but says it is confident the chemical poses no threat.

(Common Ingredient in Toothpaste Puts Women at Risk of Bone Disease, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

In a vote, on the 4 September 2008 the EP asked the Council to be more demanding on exposure levels this is proof that the subject leaves no one indifferent.

(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)

They accomplished this by taking advantage of 'optogenetics', an approach relying on proteins that change their activity on demand with light.

(Researchers Develop Insulin-Producing Cells Activated by Light for Diabetes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)