wish
/wɪʃ/ verb A2- To desire; to want. · I'll come tomorrow, if you wish (it).· I wish it to be known that I wish them all to leave the company.
- To hope (for a particular outcome), even if that outcome is unlikely to occur or cannot occur. · I wish I could go back in time and teach myself what I know now.· I wished (that) it would rain.
- To bestow (a thought or gesture) towards (someone or something). · I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
- To request or desire to do an activity. · Anyone who wishes to may leave now.
- To recommend; to seek confidence or favour on behalf of.
Plural wish · He/she/it wishes · Past wished · Past participle wished · -ing form wishing
Verb forms
- Base form
- wish
- He/she/it
- wishes
- Past
- wished
- Past participle
- wished
- -ing form
- wishing
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
Seeing a thrush sitting upon a tree, he wished to take it, and fitting his twigs to a proper length, watched intently, having his whole thoughts directed towards the sky.
Let what may remain of revolutionary sap exhaust itself and die away with the old trunk, and condescend only to regard the young shoot which has started up at a distance from the parent tree, without having the power, any more than the wish, to separate entirely from the stock from which it sprung.”
“I wished to inquire why you stopped at the Island of Elba?”
“Why do you wish to see Oz?” he asked.
Other matches
Learn wish in real texts
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