Link Centre Dictionary

wish

UK/ˈwɪʃ/ US/ˈwɪʃ/ very common
verb (7) noun (4)

verb

1.

hope for; have a wish

  • “I wish I could go home now”
2.

prefer or wish to do something

  • “Do you care to try this dish?”
  • “Would you like to come along to the movies?”
Synonyms
3.

have in mind

  • “I will take the exam tomorrow”
Synonyms
4.

make or express a wish

  • “I wish that Christmas were over”
5.

feel or express a desire or hope concerning the future or fortune of

Synonyms
Antonyms
6.
7.

invoke upon

  • “wish you a nice evening”
  • “bid farewell”
Synonyms

noun

1.

a specific feeling of desire

  • “he got his wish”
  • “he was above all wishing and desire”
Synonyms
2.

an expression of some desire or inclination

  • “I could tell that it was his wish that the guests leave”
  • “his crying was an indirect request for attention”
Synonyms
3.

(usually plural) a polite expression of desire for someone''s welfare

  • “give him my kind regards”
  • “my best wishes”
Synonyms
4.

the particular preference that you have

  • “it was his last wish”
  • “they should respect the wishes of the people”

Origin

From Middle English wisshen, wischen, wüschen, from Old English wȳsċan (“to wish”), from Proto-West Germanic *wunskijan, from Proto-Germanic *wunskijaną (“to wish”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to wish, love”). Cognate with Scots wis (“to wish”), Saterland Frisian wonskje (“to wish”), West Frisian winskje (“to wish”), Dutch wensen (“to wish”), German wünschen (“to wish”), Luxembourgish wënschen (“to wish”), Yiddish ווינטשן (vintshn, “to wish”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ønske (“to wish”), Faroese ynskja (“to wish, to desire”), Icelandic æskja, óska (“to wish”), Norwegian Nynorsk ønskja, ønskje, ønska, ønske, ynskja, ynskje (“to wish, to desire”), Swedish önska (“to wish”). Via PIE cognate with Latin Venus, veneror (“venerate, honour, love”), English wonder.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.