want

present singular third person wants · participle present wanting · participle past wanted · past wanted · first person past singular wanted · archaic present second person singular wantest · past second person singular wanted · archaic past second person singular wantedst · present singular third person wants · archaic present singular third person wanteth · past singular third person wanted · past plural wanted · past subjunctive wanted · participle present wanting · participle past wanted · alternative obsolete waunt

1. transitiveTo wish for or desire (something); to feel a need or desire for; to crave, hanker, or demand.First known use 18th c.

   I want you as a friend, not a foe.

   4 more examples

   What do you want to eat?  I want you to leave.  I never wanted to go back to live with my mother.

   And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.

   2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4

   I want to find a supermarket. — Oh, okay. The supermarket is at 1500 Irving Street. It is near the apartment. — Great!

   2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

   1. broadlytransitiveTo make it easy or tempting to do something undesirable, or to make it hard or challenging to refrain from doing it.

      The game developers of Candy Crush want you to waste large, copious amounts of your money on in-game purchases to buy boosters and lives.

      1 more example

      Depression wants you to feel like the world is dark and that you are not worthy of happiness. The first step to making your life better from this day forward is to stop believing these lies.

2. transitiveTo wish, desire, or demand to see, have the presence of or do business with.

   Danish police want him for embezzlement.

   2 more examples

   Ma’am, you are exactly the professional we want for this job.

   But now it's different, if the police want him for murder.

   2010, Fred Vargas, The Chalk Circle Man, Vintage Canada, →ISBN, page 75

3. intransitiveTo desire (to experience desire); to wish.

   You can leave if you want.

   1 more example

   TYRION: You don't want it? BRAN: I don't really want anymore.

   2019 May 5, "The Last of the Starks", Game of Thrones season 8 episode 4 (written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss)

4. colloquialinterrogativesecond personusuallyoften future tenseTo be advised to do or aim for something (compare should, ought).

   You’ll want to repeat this three or four times to get the best result.

5. colloquialtransitiveTo lack and be in need of or require (something, such as a noun or verbal noun).First known use 15th c.

   That chair wants fixing and a clean.

   5 more examples

   The lady, it is said, will inherit a fortune of three hundred pounds a year, with two cool thousands left by an uncle, on her arriving at the age of twenty-one, of which she wants but a few months.

   1741, The Gentleman's and London Magazine: Or Monthly Chronologer, 1741-1794, page 559

   Oh Jeanie, it will be hard, after every thing is ready for our happiness, if we should be sundered. It wants but a few days o' Martinmas, and then I maun enter on my new service on Loch Rannoch, where a bonny shieling is ready ...

   1839, Chambers's Journal, page 123

   In this we have just read an address to children in England, Ireland, and Scotland, in behalf of children who want food to keep them from starvation.

   1847, The American Protestant, page 27

   “Your hair wants cutting,” said the Hatter. He had been looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech.

   1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “A Mad Tea-Party”, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 96

   The mowing-machine always wanted oiling. Barnet turned it under Jacob's window, and it creaked—creaked, and rattled across the lawn and creaked again.

   1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter II, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC, page 22

   Synonyms: need, be in need of

6. archaictransitiveTo have occasion for (something requisite or useful); to require or need.

   Man wants but little, nor that little long.

   1742–1745, [Edward Young], The Complaint: Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, London: […] [Samuel Richardson] for A[ndrew] Millar […], and R[obert] Dodsley […], published 1750, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   Man wants but little here below, nor wants that little long.

   1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC

   [F]or my greatest skill has been to want but little.

   1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC

7. datedintransitiveTo be lacking or deficient or absent.First known use 13th c.

   There was something wanting in the play.

   3 more examples

   They of the Citie fought valiantly with Engines, Darts, Arrows: and when Stones wanted, they threw Silver, especially molten silver.

   1625, [Samuel] Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], (please specify |part=1 to 5), London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, page 404

   The disposition, the manners, and the thoughts are all before it; where any of those are wanting or imperfect, so much wants or is imperfect in the imitation of human life.

   a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “Preface”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC

   For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find / What wants in blood and spirits, swelled with wind.

   1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC

8. datedintransitiveTo be in a state of destitution; to be needy; to lack.

   The paupers desperately want.

   1 more example

   You have a gift, sir (thank your education), / Will never let you want.

   1605 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, Ben: Ionson His Volpone or The Foxe, [London]: […] [George Eld] for Thomas Thorppe, published 1607, →OCLC, (please specify the Internet Archive page)

9. archaictransitiveTo lack and be without, to not have (something).First known use 13th c.

   She wanted anything she needed.

   5 more examples

   he that hath skill to be a pilot wants a ship; and he that could govern a commonwealth[…]wants means to exercise his worth, hath not a poor office to manage.

   1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 3, member 7

   I observed […] that your whip wanted a lash to it.

   1711 July 14 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, July 4, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 108; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC

   The least miserable among them appear to be those who turn to Dotage, and entirely lose their Memories; these meet with more Pity and Assistance, because they want many bad Qualities which abound in others.

   1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, (please specify |part=I to IV), page 141

   Not what we wish, but what we want, / Oh, let thy grace supply!

   1765, James Merrick, Psalams

   Pray Mr Marvell, can it be / You think to have persuaded me? / Then let me say: you want the art / To woo, much less to win my heart.

   1981, A. D. Hope, “His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell”, in A Book of Answers

   Synonyms: lack, be without

10. broadlyobsoletetransitiveTo lack and perhaps be able or willing to do without.

    For Law, Physick and Divinitie, need so the help of tongs and sciences, as thei can not want them, and yet thei require so a hole mans studie, as thei may parte with no tyme to other lerning, ...

    1797, The European Magazine, and London Review, page 226

    3 more examples

    […] which the Kings of Assyria had left for the maintenance of this Temple sacrifices, after the ouerthrow thereof, was shared among the Chaldzans; which they by this attempt were like to lose, and therefore were willing to want his presence.

    1625, [Samuel] Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], (please specify |part=1 to 5), London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, page 50

    1789 Robert Burns: Epigram On Francis Grose The Antiquary The Devil got notice that Grose was a-dying So whip! at the summons, old Satan came flying; But when he approached where poor Francis lay moaning, And saw each bed-post with its burthen a-groaning, Astonish'd, confounded, cries Satan-"By God, I'll want him, ere I take such a damnable load!"

    1880 Robert Louis Stevenson. Kidnapped "Are ye sharp-set?" he asked, glancing at about the level of my knee. "Ye can eat that drop parritch." I said I feared it was his own supper. "Oh," said he, "I can do fine wanting it, I'll take the ale, though, for it slockens my cough." He drank the cup about half out, still keeping an eye upon me as he drank...

11. To desire a romantic or (especially) sexual relationship with someone; to lust for.

    Dang, girl! Your brother is gorgeous! I want him so bad!

    2 more examples

    Don't, don't you want me? / You know I can't believe it when I hear that you won't see me / Don't, don't you want me? / You know I don't believe you when you say that you don't need me

    1981 November 27, Jo Callis, Philip Oakey, Philip Adrian Wright, “Don't You Want Me”, in Dare, performed by The Human League

    Yeah, you're loo- (loo-loo-) lookin' at me like I'm some sweet escape / Obvious that you want me, but I said...

    2023 September 15, Tate McRae, Amy Allen, Jasper Harris, Ryan Tedder, “Greedy”, in Think Later, performed by Tate McRae

plural wants · alternative obsolete waunt

1. countableA desire, wish, longing.

   After a search which produced most of the things on our wants list, we went down to picnic on the shore in the sunshine-with a good stretch of shingle behind us over which no triffid could approach unheard.

   1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 249

2. countableLack, absence, deficiency.

   She showed a want of caution in renting her house to complete strangers.

   2 more examples

   [H]eavens and honour be witness, that no want of resolution in me, but only my followers' base and ignominious treasons, makes me betake me to my heels.

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene viii]

   They are wet with the showres of the mountaines, and imbrace the rocke for want of a shelter.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 24:8

3. uncountablePoverty.

   Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches, as to conceive how others can be in want.

   1713, Jonathan Swift, A Preface to Bishop Burnet's Introduction

4. countableuncountableSomething needed or desired; a thing of which the loss is felt.

   Habitual superfluities become actual wants.

   1785, William Paley, Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy

5. UKcountableuncountablebusinessA depression in coal strata, hollowed out before the subsequent deposition took place.

plural wants

1. dialectalA mole (Talpa europea).

   Lic. She hath the ears of a want. / Pec. Doth she want ears?

   1592, John Lyly, Midas; republished in Charles Wentworth Dilke, editor, Old English Plays: Being a Selection from the Early Dramatic Writers, volume 1, London: Whittingham and Rowland, 1814

1. A personification of want.