Meanings
plural wannabes · alternative wanna-be · alternative wannabee · alternative want-to-be
- attributivederogatoryinformaloftenSomeone who wishes to be someone or do something, but lacks the qualifications or talent; an overeager amateur; an aspirant.
Hollywood's restaurants are full of wannabe actors waiting to be discovered.
3 more examples
Most of the people Hiro knows are will-bes or wannabes.
1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 61Who the hell is that woman messing in my files? GET HER OUT OF HERE! I won't have my system messed up by some wannabe "expert" who'll be gone next week! Damn strangers who think they know it all but don't care about what we're really trying to achieve here.
2012, BioWare, quoting Sho D'hen, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: MarsHe had the reputation of a wannabe hardman, riding his cousin's coattails.
2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 251 - derogatoryinformalSomeone who wishes to be part of, or to assimilate to, a majority group of which they are not a member.
Bigger, mongrelly and black, he was clearly a Doberman wannabe.
2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 126
Synonyms & antonyms
nounan ambitious and aspiring young person
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Written form of a reduction of want to be, analyzable as wanna + be. Wannabe can be considered a conversion, category change, or functional shift. While occasionally appearing in print, usually as a less reduced phrase, the popularity of the word took off in the mid-1980s following the Madonna wannabe fashion trend: “wannabe”, in Google Books Ngram Viewer.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مُتَظَاهِر, طَمُوح
- مُتَظَاهِر (mutaẓāhir)someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
- طَمُوح (ṭamūḥ)someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
Czech rádoby
- rádobysomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
Dutch wannabe
- wannabesomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
Finnish matkija
- matkijasomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
French wannabe
- wannabesomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
German Möchtegern
- Möchtegernsomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
Hungarian önjelölt
- önjelöltsomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
Japanese ワナビー, ワナビ
- ワナビー (wanabī)someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
- ワナビ (wanabi)someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
- もどき (modoki)someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
Norwegian wannabe
- wannabesomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
Polish pozer, pozerka
- pozersomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
- pozerkasomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
Portuguese metido (a)
- metido (a)someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
Spanish un quiero y no puedo, wanabi
- un quiero y no puedosomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
- wanabisomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
- wannabisomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
- wanabísomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
- guanabísomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
Swedish wannabe
- wannabesomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
Turkish özenti
- özentisomeone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications
Cite this entry
wannabe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wannabe
“wannabe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wannabe. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wannabe,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wannabe.
Source: wannabe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.