Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To ask for urgently or peremptorily.
  • intransitive verb To claim as just or due.
  • intransitive verb To ask to be informed of.
  • intransitive verb To require as useful, just, proper, or necessary; call for.
  • intransitive verb To lay legal claim to; claim formally.
  • intransitive verb To ask that (something) be done in accordance with a legal requirement.
  • intransitive verb To make a demand.
  • noun An act of demanding; an urgent request.
  • noun Something demanded.
  • noun An urgent requirement or need.
  • noun The state of being sought after.
  • noun Economics The desire for goods or services in an economy, measured as the amount people are ready to buy at a given price.
  • noun A formal claim.
  • noun A request that some act be done or payment made in accordance with a legal requirement.
  • noun Archaic An emphatic question or inquiry.
  • idiom (on demand) When presented for payment.
  • idiom (on demand) When needed or asked for.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To ask or require as by right or authority, or as that to which one has some valid claim; lay claim to; exact: as, parents demand obedience; what price do you demand?
  • To ask or interrogate by authority or in a formal manner.
  • To ask for with insistence or urgency; make a positive requisition for; exact as a tribute or a concession: as, the thief demanded my purse.
  • To call for; require as necessary or useful: as, the execution of this work demands great care.
  • In law, to summon to court: as, being demanded, he does not come.
  • To make a demand; inquire peremptorily; ask.
  • noun An asking for or a claim made by virtue of a right or supposed right to the thing sought; an authoritative claim; an exaction: as, the demands of one's creditors.
  • noun An insistent asking or requisition; exaction without reference to right: as, the demands of a blackmailer.
  • noun That which is demanded or required; something claimed, exacted, or necessary: as, what are your demands upon the estate? the demands upon one's time; the demands of nature.
  • noun The state of being in request or sought after; requisition; call.
  • noun Specifically In political economics, the desire to purchase and possess, coupled with the power of purchasing: sometimes technically called effectual demand: as, the supply exceeds the demand; there is no demand for pig-iron.
  • noun In law:
  • noun The right to claim anything from another person, whether founded on contract or tort, or superior right of property.
  • noun The asking or seeking for what is due or claimed as due, either expressly by words, or by implication, as by seizure of goods or entry into lands.
  • noun Inquiry; question; interrogation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of demanding; an asking with authority; a peremptory urging of a claim; a claiming or challenging as due; requisition
  • noun Earnest inquiry; question; query.
  • noun A diligent seeking or search; manifested want; desire to possess; request
  • noun That which one demands or has a right to demand; thing claimed as due; claim.
  • noun The asking or seeking for what is due or claimed as due.
  • noun The right or title in virtue of which anything may be claimed.
  • noun A thing or amount claimed to be due.
  • noun in request; being much sought after.
  • noun upon presentation and request of payment.
  • transitive verb To ask or call for with authority; to claim or seek from, as by authority or right; to claim, as something due; to call for urgently or peremptorily
  • transitive verb To inquire authoritatively or earnestly; to ask, esp. in a peremptory manner; to question.
  • transitive verb To require as necessary or useful; to be in urgent need of; hence, to call for.
  • transitive verb (Law) To call into court; to summon.
  • intransitive verb To make a demand; to inquire.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The desire to purchase goods and services.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English demanden, from Old French demander, to charge with doing, and from Medieval Latin dēmandāre, to demand, both from Latin, to entrust : dē-, de- + mandāre, to entrust; see man- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French demander.

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