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.
Academics may think what they wish of Congress; this court’s jurisprudence ought not be grounded in such contempt.”
From Slate • Jun. 11, 2026
“I wish that their welcome to Riverside was a little smoother,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026
Also on companies’ wish lists are expanded market access in China and reassurances from Xi on foreign investment amid Beijing’s growing regime of countermeasures and restrictions.
From Barron's • Jun. 10, 2026
The small size and large number of works and their staging make this one of those exhibitions where viewing edges toward window-shopping—“Oh, I like this one!” or “I wish there were two of that one.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026
“They’re all packed by the door. Oh I wish I could go back with you—but I’ve got batches of cookies still to bake and I promised Flip and the children I’d wait for them.”
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Vocabulary lists containing wish
