wish fulfillment

American

noun

gratification of desires.
Psychoanalysis. the drive to free oneself from tension caused by instinctual needs, as sex.

Etymology

Origin of wish fulfillment

First recorded in 1905–10

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.

Mr. Kimmel also hints at the wish fulfillment at the heart of the Jewish-penned superhero tales: As he observes, within their pages, “nerdy outsiders end up exhibiting enviable superpowers.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026

“As much as this isn’t wish fulfillment in the classic sense of a glamorous Manhattan apartment, cosmopolitans every night — it’s wish fulfillment because they’re really happy there,” Shaw said of the characters.

From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2025

Phillips: I think it was just like a wish fulfillment of an 8-year-old.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 6, 2025

The male “feminist,” as a figure of wish fulfillment in the search for a better world, has circumvented the natural skepticism people might otherwise have about public figures.

From Slate • Jan. 17, 2025

In the form of the wish fulfillment they show us what wish impulses have been suppressed, and to what objects the libido, withdrawn from the ego, has been attached.

From A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Freud, Sigmund

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