wishful

American  

[wish-fuhl] / ˈwɪʃ fəl /

adjective

1. having or showing a wish; desirous; longing.

---

wishful British  

/ ˈwɪʃfʊl /

adjective

1. having wishes or characterized by wishing

---

Other Word Forms

• unwishful adjective
• unwishfully adverb
• unwishfulness noun
• wishfully adverb
• wishfulness noun

Etymology

Origin of wishful

First recorded in 1515–25; wish + -ful

Example Sentences

The first of these is wishful—the necessary omissions leave out much of the story of American poetry.

From The Wall Street Journal

For the residents of Catfish Row, “your daddy’s rich” sounds wishful, ironic.

From The Wall Street Journal

My mother’s voice knocked me out of my wishful thinking.

From Salon

Maybe that is wishful thinking, but what's clear is that Scotland will go into the Six Nations shed of the sort of expectation they have had to carry in recent seasons.

From BBC

That's an awful lot of wishful thinking, an awful lot of kicking a decision down the road.

From BBC