Meaning & use
need of the hour
Last updated
Meanings
phrasefixed phraseformal
the thing that people most urgently require at this particular moment.
Grammar: Used as a noun phrase, usually after 'be' or 'become': something is the need of the hour.
Patterns
- something is the need of the hour
- become the need of the hour
- the need of the hour is something
With the river rising fast, sandbags are the need of the hour.
Everyone agrees that reliable testing is the need of the hour.
For a team this young, patience, not new players, is the need of the hour.
phrasefixed phraseformal
the action or quality that a situation most requires right now.
Grammar: Often used with abstract nouns such as 'action', 'unity' or 'honesty', again after 'be' or 'become'.
Patterns
- something is the need of the hour
- the need of the hour is something
In this crisis, calm leadership is the need of the hour.
The mayor said that honest talk with residents had become the need of the hour.
Common combinations
- be the need of the hour
- Clean water is the need of the hour in the flooded villages.
- become the need of the hour
- After the scandal, openness became the need of the hour.
- the need of the hour is something
- The need of the hour is a plan that everyone can follow.
- truly the need of the hour
- Cheaper housing is truly the need of the hour for young families.
- call something the need of the hour
- Several doctors called faster testing the need of the hour.
Synonyms and how they differ
- top priority
- Plainer and more neutral; it names whatever comes first on a list, while 'need of the hour' stresses urgency at one specific moment.
- what is required
- A general, everyday alternative that fits most contexts but lacks the dramatic, speech-like tone of the idiom.
- necessity
- More formal and abstract; it can refer to something always needed, not only to what matters right now.
Commonly confused: need of the hour or hour of need? need of the hour or needy?
need of the hour vs hour of need
Almost the reverse: 'a friend in my hour of need' means a friend who helps when you are in trouble, not the thing that is currently required.
need of the hour vs needy
This adjective describes people who lack money or attention; it has nothing to do with what a situation urgently requires.
Practice
The mayor told reporters that quick repairs to the bridge were ______.
Choose one answer.
The idiom is fixed with 'the' and singular 'need': 'the need of the hour'. 'A need of the hour' and 'need of an hour' break the fixed pattern, and 'the needs of the hour' changes it to a plural that the idiom does not use.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “need of the hour”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.