wish
Usage
What are other ways to say wish?
To wish is to feel an impulse toward attainment or possession of something; the strength of the feeling may be of greater or lesser intensity: I wish I could go home. Desire, a more formal verb, suggests a strong wish: They desire liberation. Want, usually colloquial in use, suggests a feeling of lack or need that imperatively demands fulfillment: People all over the world want peace.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Why should we have to move because these men around us can’t behave and are heckling and harassing me. No, we’re going back. In hindsight, I wish we would have left.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
Make it a double feature if you so wish, but you might need to lie on the floor and stare at the ceiling after.
From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026
Although it's designated for energy bills, you can spend the money on anything you wish.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
Every financial market, from the stock exchange to the options market to the commodity trading floor, involves speculation—call it “betting” or even “gambling” if you wish.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
I wish I could teleport myself backstage where no one could see me.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
She wishes she could cast a ballot for Measure YV herself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
Paris St-Germain manager Luis Enrique confessed he is "bored of the Ballon d’Or" - although with a record 10 PSG players on the shortlist, perhaps he wishes to keep out of the debate.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
The most recent instance of this involves the East Potomac Golf Links, a historic golf course Trump wishes to redesign but has faced legal setbacks after hundreds of trees were cut down for the project.
From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026
Thomas wishes to transcend such political line-drawing, just as he wishes to brush aside the troubles of his absent son.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
Because she deeply and desperately wishes I had.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
The self-described “photo-historian,” 78, was inspired by a 1788 Benjamin Franklin quote: “I have sometimes almost wished it had been my destiny to be born two or three centuries hence.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
Neither Moscow nor Kyiv has specified the number of people evacuated, and authorities in both countries previously indicated that many residents wished to remain in the city, even in the event of renewed fighting.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026
She also wished drivers would “stop being so aggressive to cyclists.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026
He remained at the plate, “waving wildly, waving and writhing and gyrating along the first-base line, as he wished the ball fair, forced it fair with this entire body.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
Danny wished he could understand what they were saying because the jackalope prince was practically sweating before the great alpaca.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
The visitor center provides costumes and pitchforks to tourists wishing to re-enact the painting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
It is lending the region some oil, pitching a pipeline and wishing you a warm winter.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
Fields was inspired by listening to “Voodoo” at Shibuya and wishing that he could talk about it with the other attendees.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2026
To manufacturers wishing to replace these tools, "the Chinese say, 'you’re going to buy Chinese cutting tools,'" Dufourcq added.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
Boaz shivered when he stepped out of the station, yanking up the zipper of his hoodie and jamming his hands into the pockets of his jeans, wishing he’d thought to bring his jacket.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Vocabulary lists containing wish
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