want
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.
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.
to feel inclined; wish; like (often followed by to): 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 by for): He did not want for abilities.
to have need (usually followed by for): 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.
something wanted or needed; necessity: My wants are few.
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.
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 about want
want in / out, Chiefly Midland.
to desire to enter or leave: The cat wants in.
Informal. to desire acceptance in or release from something specified: I talked with Louie about our plan, and he wants in.
Origin of want
1Other words for want
1 | require, crave |
3 | need |
11 | desideratum |
13 | dearth, scarcity, inadequacy, insufficiency, paucity, scarceness, meagerness |
15 | privation, penury, indigence |
Other words from want
- wanter, noun
- wantless, adjective
- want·less·ness, noun
- self-want, noun
- un·want·ed, adjective
Words that may be confused with want
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use want in a sentence
But Babylon asks us to do a little more: It wants us to empathize.
'Babylon' Review: The Dumb Lives of Trigger-Happy Cops | Melissa Leon | January 9, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTHe also wants to “replace every existing organism with a better one.”
No one wants to align with less freedom at a time like this.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead | Luke O’Neil | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTOne wants speech to be free, but one doesn't actually want to hear it.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead | Luke O’Neil | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTBut at the heart of this “Truther” conspiracy theory is the idea that “someone” wants to destroy Bill Cosby.
Phylicia Rashad and the Cult of Cosby Truthers | Stereo Williams | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
Who wants to peruse fictitious adventures, when railroads and steamboats woo him to adventures of his own?
The observer might well remain perplexed at the pathetic discord between human work and human wants.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice | Stephen LeacockThus among the huge mass of accumulated commodities the simplest wants would go unsatisfied.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice | Stephen LeacockAber Jeder will grossartig spielen heutzutage (But everybody wants to play on a grand scale now-a-days).
Music-Study in Germany | Amy FayThimbletoes doesn't fancy that, you know, because the Prime Minister has all the honey he wants, by way of a salary.
Davy and The Goblin | Charles E. Carryl
British Dictionary definitions for want (1 of 2)
/ (wɒnt) /
(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
(intr usually used with a negative and often foll by for) 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) mainly British 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
(tr; takes an infinitive) informal should or ought (to do something): you don't want to go out so late
want in informal to wish to be included in a venture
want out informal to wish to be excluded from a venture
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
Origin of want
1Derived forms of want
- wanter, noun
British Dictionary definitions for want (2 of 2)
/ (wɒnt) /
English dialect a mole
Origin of want
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with want
In addition to the idioms beginning with want
- want for nothing
- want in
also see:
- waste not, want not
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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