wishful thinking

American  

noun

1. interpretation of facts, actions, words, etc., as one would like them to be rather than as they really are; imagining as actual what is not.

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wishful thinking British  

noun

1. the erroneous belief that one's wishes are in accordance with reality

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wishful thinking Idioms  

1. Interpreting matters as one would like them to be, as opposed to what they really are. For example, Matthew wanted to be a basketball player, but with his height that was wishful thinking. This term comes from Freudian psychology of the mid-1920s and soon began to be used more loosely.

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Other Word Forms

• wishful thinker noun

Etymology

Origin of wishful thinking

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

It was confusion, or maybe wishful thinking, or was it outright defiance?

From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026

There’s a fair bit of analysis suggesting the whole thing may be more wishful thinking than a useful tool to time your investing.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 16, 2026

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 • Nov. 23, 2025

Yet wishful thinking and therapeutic benefits don’t make something true.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 10, 2025

Then Enoch said, “I simply have no words. Wait—no—I do! Horace, that is the most stunningly naive and cowardly bit of wishful thinking that I’ve ever heard.”

From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs