demand meaning

Verb: demand di'mãnd

Request urgently and forcefully
"The victim's family is demanding compensation"; "The boss demanded that he be fired immediately"; "She demanded to see the manager"
Require as useful, just, or proper
"This position demands a lot of personal sacrifice"
- necessitate, ask, postulate, need, require, take, involve, call for
Claim as due or just
"The bank demanded payment of the loan"
- exact
Lay legal claim to
Summon to court
Ask to be informed of
"I demand an explanation"

Noun: demand di'mãnd

An urgent or peremptory request
"his demands for attention were unceasing"
The ability and desire to purchase goods and services
"the automobile reduced the demand for buggywhips"; "the demand exceeded the supply"
Required activity
"there were many demands on his time"
- requirement
The act of demanding
"the kidnapper's exorbitant demands for money"
A condition requiring relief
"there is a demand for jobs"
- need

Derived forms: demanded, demanding, demands

See also: demander

Type of: activity, bespeak, call for, cite, claim, condition, duty, economic process, obligation, petition, postulation, quest, request, responsibility, status, summon, summons

Antonym: supply

Encyclopedia: Demand

[Architecture]
1.

The electric load on a system, integrated over a specific time interval; usually expressed in watts or kilowatts.

The volume of gas per unit time (usually expressed in cubic feet per hour or liters per second) or the amount of heat (usually expressed in Btu per hour or megajoules per hour) required for the operation of one or more gas appliances.

The rate of flow of water, usually expressed in gallons per minute (liters per second), furnished by a water supply system to various types of plumbing fixtures and water outlets under normal conditions.

[Business]
AmE / noun, verb

■ noun

COMPOSITE DEMAND, CONSUMER DEMAND, DERIVED DEMAND, ELASTICITY OF DEMAND, EXCESS DEMAND, FINAL DEMAND, ON DEMAND, PRIMARY DEMAND, SELECTIVE DEMAND, SUPPLY AND DEMAND

1 [U,C]

the desire or need of customers for goods or services which they want to buy or use:

Demand for new cars has fallen.

a sharp fall in car demand

The plant has increased production in order to meet demand.

Demand for the aircraft has outstripped (= has been greater than) supply.

The price is determined by the balance between demand and supply.

Traders reported a strong demand from investors.

The movie has created a huge demand for the books and related products.

She blamed the company's failure on weak global demand.

⇨ SUPPLY noun (3)

demand falls/drops/slows down/weakens demand grows/picks up/recovers/rises to meet/keep up with/satisfy demand

◆ to boost/create/increase/reduce/stimulate demand

◆ demand outstrips/exceeds supply

◆ (a) strong/growing/huge/rising demand

◆ (a) declining/falling/poor/low/weak demand

◆ domestic/external/global/world demand

◆ consumer/investor/market demand

2 [C]

a very firm request for sth; sth that sb needs or asks for:

Management has rejected the union's demand for a 40 per cent pay rise.

The firm is struggling to satisfy the demands of its shareholders.

❖ to accept/agree to/meet/reject/satisfy a demand

3 [C]

a written request to pay money that is owed:

You will receive a demand for the extra tax owing.

❖ to get/ignore/issue/receive a demand

IDIOMS

on demand

as soon as requested:

The loan is repayable on demand.

2 (usually used with a noun)

when you want it:

The company website offers employees information on demand.

on-demand computing

■ verb [+ obj]

to ask for sth very firmly:

She demanded an apology from him.

They are demanding €1.6 million in compensation.

I demand to see the manager.

The strikers have demanded that the president resign.

Bondholders are demanding the group restructure its finances.

[Economics]
The quantity of a good or service that people want to buy. The demand function relates demand to the factors determining it: these include customers' incomes, the good's own price and the prices of competing goods and of other goods in general; factors affecting the demand of individuals, for example their family circumstances; and factors affecting demand at particular times, for example weather conditions. The demand curve relates the demand for a good to its own price, holding all other factors constant. Price elasticity of demand is the proportional increase in quantity demanded divided by the proportional reduction in price. Income elasticity of demand is the proportional increase in quantity demanded at a given price divided by the proportional rise in income. Aggregate demand is the total demand for goods and services in the economy. Effective demand is what is actually demanded, as contrasted with notional demand, which is what people would demand if all markets were in equilibrium. Effective demand thus excludes consumer goods people cannot afford to buy because they cannot get jobs, and investment spending for which firms cannot obtain finance. Demand management is the use of monetary and and fiscal policies to control the level of effective demand in the economy. Excess demand is the excess of the demand for a good or service over its supply, at its present price. Demand inflation occurs when price and wage increases are stimulated by perceptions of excess demand in the economy. Derived demand is the demand for a factor of production or an intermediate good, which depends on output of the final product.

[Electricity]
See demand factor

[Finance]
An economic principle that describes a consumer’s desire and willingness to pay a price for a specific good or service. Holding all other factors constant, the price of a good or service increases as its demand increases and vice versa.

[Law]
A claim; a legal obligation.

Demand is a word greater than any other word except claim in its signification. Hence a release of all demands is, in general, a release of all covenants, real and personal, conditions, whether broken or not, annuities, recognizances, obligations, contracts, and the like.

But a release of all demands does not discharge rent before it is due, if it be a rent incident to the reversion; for the rent was not only not due, but the consideration - the future enjoyment of the lands - for which the rent was to be given, was not executed.

Practice. A requisition or a request by one individual to another to do a particular thing.

Demands are either express or implied. In many cases, an express demand must be made before the commencement of an action, some of which will be considered below; in other cases an implied demand is all that the law requires, and the bringing of an action is a sufficient demand in those cases.

A demand is frequently necessary to secure to a man all his rights, both in actions arising on contracts and those which are founded on some tort. It is requisite also, when it is intended to bring the party into contempt for not performing an order which has been made a rule of court.

Whether a demand is requisite before the plaintiff can commence an action arising on contract depends upon express or implied stipulations of the parties. In case of the sale of property, for example, to be paid for on delivery, a demand of it must be made before the commencement of an action for non-delivery, and proved on the trial, unless it can be shown that the seller has incapacitated himself by a resale and delivery of the property to another person, or otherwise.

On the same principles, a request on a general promise to marry is requisite, unless it be dispensed with by the party's marrying another person, which puts it out of his power to fulfil his contract, or that he refuses to marry at any time.

A demand of rent must always be made before a re-entry for the non-payment of rent.

When a note is given and no time of payment is mentioned, it is payable immediately.

There are cases where a demand is not originally necessary, but becomes so by the act of the obligor. On a promissory note no express demand of payment is requisite before bringing an action, but if the debtor tenders the amount due to the creditor on the note, it becomes necessary before bringing an action to make a demand of the debtor for payment of the very sum tendered.

When a debt or obligation is payable, and no day of payment is fixed, it is payable on demand. The demand must, however, be made in a reasonable time, for after the lapse of manyy years, a presumption will arise that the note has been paid; but, like some other presumptions, it may be rebutted by showing the fact that the note remains unpaid.

When demand of the payment of a debt secured by note or other instrument is made, the party making it should be ready to deliver up such note or instrument on payment. If it has been lost or destroyed, an indemnity should be offered.

It is requisite in some cases arising ex delicto, to make a demand of restoration of the right before the commencement of an action.

The following are examples. When the wife, apprentice or servant of one person has been harbored by another, the proper course is to make a demand of restoration before an action brought, in order to constitute the party a wilful wrongdoer, unless the plaintiff can prove an original illegal enticing away.

In cases where the taking of goods is lawful, but their subsequent detention becomes illegal, it is absolutely necessary, in order to secure sufficient evidence of a conversion on the trial, to give a formal notice of the owner's right to the property and possession, and to make a formal demand in writing of the delivery of such possession to the owner. The refusal to comply with such a demand, unless justified by some right which the possessor may have in the thing detained, will in general afford sufficient evidence of a conversion.

When a nuisance has been erected or continued by a man on his own land it is advisable, particularly in the case of a private nuisance, to give the party notice and request him to remove it, either before an entry is made for the purpose of abating it, or an action is commenced against the wrong doer, and a demand is always indispensable in cases of a continuance of a nuisance originally created by another person.

When an order to pay money or to do any other thing has been made by a rule of court, a demand for the payment of the money or performance of the thing must be made before an attachment will be issued for a contempt.