wish list

American

noun

a usually unwritten list of things one wishes for.

Money is on everyone's wish list.

wish list British

noun

a list of things desired by a person or organization

the Polish government's wish list

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of wish list

First recorded in 1970–75

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.

A senior member of Iran's parliament dismissed it as a "wish list", while a foreign ministry spokesman said Tehran would share its views of a US proposal with Pakistani mediators.

From BBC • May 6, 2026

If you have a wish list of stocks or closed-end funds that you have wanted to buy if they go on sale, now is the time to get it ready.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 12, 2026

Her wish list changes year-to-year, but she always arrives when the gates open, hoping to snag a gnome.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

The hirsute libertarian, using leverage from his midterm elections triumph in October, just massaged labor reform legislation through Congress, delivering one of the Big Three structural reforms on markets’ wish list.

From Barron's • Feb. 26, 2026

So far in the ancient lands, she’d only seen one place on her wish list: Diocletian’s Palace in Split, and even that visit had hardly gone the way she’d imagined.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023