want
Americanverb (used with object)
-
wants,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wanted,
past participle, past
-
wanting
present participle
-
to feel a need or a desire for; wish for.
to want one's dinner; always wanting something new.
-
to wish, need, crave, demand, or desire (often followed by an infinitive).
I want to see you.
She wants to be notified.
-
to be without or be deficient in.
to want judgment; to want knowledge.
- Synonyms:
- need
-
to fall short by (a specified amount).
The sum collected wants but a few dollars of the desired amount.
-
to require or need.
The house wants painting.
verb (used without object)
-
wants,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wanted,
past participle, past
-
wanting
present participle
-
to feel inclined; wish; like (often followed byto ).
We can stay home if you want.
-
to be deficient by the absence of some part or thing, or to feel or have a need (sometimes followed byfor ).
He did not want for abilities.
-
to have need (usually followed byfor ).
If you want for anything, let him know.
-
to be in a state of destitution, need, or poverty.
She would never allow her parents to want.
-
to be lacking or absent, as a part or thing necessary to completeness.
All that wants is his signature.
noun
-
something wanted or needed; necessity.
My wants are few.
- Synonyms:
- desideratum
-
something desired, demanded, or required.
a person of childish, capricious wants.
-
absence or deficiency of something desirable or requisite; lack.
plants dying for want of rain.
- Synonyms:
- paucity, insufficiency, inadequacy, scarcity, dearth
-
the state of being without something desired or needed; need.
to be in want of an assistant.
-
the state of being without the necessaries of life; destitution; poverty.
a country where want is virtually unknown.
-
a sense of lack or need of something.
to feel a vague want.
idioms
verb
-
(tr) to feel a need or longing for
I want a new hat
-
(when tr, may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to wish, need, or desire (something or to do something)
he wants to go home
-
to be lacking or deficient (in something necessary or desirable)
the child wants for nothing
-
(tr) to feel the absence of
lying on the ground makes me want my bed
-
(tr) to fall short by (a specified amount)
-
(tr) to have need of or require (doing or being something)
your shoes want cleaning
-
(intr) to be destitute
-
(tr; often passive) to seek or request the presence of
you're wanted upstairs
-
(intr) to be absent
-
informal (tr; takes an infinitive) should or ought (to do something)
you don't want to go out so late
-
informal to wish to be included in a venture
-
informal to wish to be excluded from a venture
noun
-
the act or an instance of wanting
-
anything that is needed, desired, or lacked
to supply someone's wants
-
a lack, shortage, or absence
for want of common sense
-
the state of being in need; destitution
the state should help those in want
-
a sense of lack; craving
noun
Usage
What are other ways to say want? To want is to feel a need or a desire for something. How is want different from desire and wish? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wantsimple
-
wantssimple
-
have wantedperfect
-
has wantedperfect
-
am wantingprogressive
-
are wantingprogressive
-
is wantingprogressive
-
have been wantingperfect progressive
-
has been wantingperfect progressive
Past
-
wantedsimple
-
had wantedperfect
-
was wantingprogressive
-
were wantingprogressive
-
had been wantingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of want
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English wante, from Old Norse vanta “to lack”
Explanation
In all its forms, want has to do with the lack of having and the desire to have. You can want or desire something you’d like, or you can be in want of something you need. The word want goes back to the 12th century and the Old Norse language, where vanta meant "to be deficient," or “in want.” If someone keeps bugging you, you might lose patience and ask, "What do you want?" If you are seeking employment, check the "want ads" or look for signs saying "Help Wanted." If you are a "wanted criminal," you might have trouble getting hired.
Vocabulary lists containing want
"A Modest Proposal," Vocabulary from the satire
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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Selection Vocabulary 2, Unit 2
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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:
“I want to get paid to watch sports and that’s it,” he continued.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
Their supporters are being cast into a scenario that none of them want to be a part of - wondering aloud, or just quietly, if the icon still has it in him.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
“I don’t want to do dishes. I just want to eat quickly.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
"In the meantime, this model serves as proof-of-concept; with this technique, we can produce a very high-performance upconversion nanoparticle that could be customized to any molecule you might want to detect. That's something entirely new."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
“I want this to be over,” I admit, hanging my head.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Wiles revealed that she doesn’t have “these seminal moments where you have to go in and tell the president what he wants to do is unconstitutional or will cost lives. I don’t have that.”
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
In practice, however, hardly anyone wants to use it.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
Gelder said the reason for that could be that China, the world’s largest crude importer, wants to avoid driving up the price of crude.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Hanna also wants the plight of the many others whose relatives have disappeared over the years to be heard too.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
He wants to go to culinary school on the East Coast and open his own restaurant someday.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
"I'm on my deceased sister's sons' side, both of them. And if either of them wanted anything then I'd be equally there for them," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
They wanted to know whether the material used for the experimental masses could somehow influence the result.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
Bio Orto makes an organic butternut-squash cream sauce that I bought at Eataly for $18.49 and desperately wanted to find merely fine.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
Weeks before he died last March, Venice football coach Angelo Gasca told me the story of a player who wanted to quit and what he learned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
Tonight, all she wanted was to curl up in her shared room in the house in Inkster-Faraday and not use language at all.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
"There was a lot of bad advice and a lot of people wanting something from him, and not necessarily for the good."
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
This is typically not how I play, wanting to experience a production as its designers have intended and thus I let “The Pineapple” take the lead rather than trying to force my will upon it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
The second issue, and perhaps the harder one to address, in their wanting more personal details from you.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
All conductors struggle with the contents of such inaugural bills, wanting them to shine a spotlight without seeming self-aggrandizing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The two lingered like new friends wanting to get acquainted, swimming around me with slow but powerful undulations, their grace astounding.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
