What does required mean?
Required is an English word used chiefly to express necessity or obligation. As an adjective, it describes something that must be done, supplied, or included because a law, rule, procedure, or circumstance demands it. Expressions such as “required identification” and “required form” are typical of official and instructional contexts. As a verb, required is the past tense and past participle of require and reports that an authority, person, or set of circumstances demands a particular action or outcome. It can therefore describe both an established obligation and a completed act of demanding: a document may be required, or a manager may require an explanation. The word generally has a firm, sometimes formal or bureaucratic tone, but it is also standard in ordinary conversation. Its usefulness lies in conveying necessity clearly and objectively, whether the source is a rule, another person, or the nature of a task. The word derives from require and ultimately from Latin, where the sense was connected with seeking out and demanding.
Necessary, obligatory, or demanded by a rule, circumstance, or particular purpose.
"Applicants must provide the required identification and supporting documents."
This is the dominant modern use and is common in formal, legal, administrative, and instructional contexts.
The past tense and past participle of require: to demand, need, or make something necessary.
"The regulations required every visitor to register at the entrance."
It can function both as a past-tense verb and as a participle, as in “the forms required by the agency.”
Required does double duty: it can describe what rules demand and report that someone has already demanded it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does required come from?
English required was formed on the verb require with the participial ending -ed. Require was borrowed through Old French from Latin requirere, a verb associated with seeking out, asking for, or demanding. Related English forms such as requisite and requisition come through the Latin stem requisit-, while Romance cognates include French requis and Spanish requerido.
How required is actually used
Required is especially common in formal, administrative, and legal contexts. The construction “is required to” emphasizes obligation, while “required someone to” identifies the person or authority making the demand.
Easily confused with required
Required means necessary or demanded, whereas acquired means obtained or gained through effort or experience.