wish fulfilment

noun

The imagined satisfying of a wish or desire, especially one which was unconscious or not recognised by the holder; the expression of such fulfilment in a dream, fantasy etc.

OriginGerman Wunscherfüllung →
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Meanings

nounwish fulfilment (countable and uncountable, plural wish fulfilments)

plural wish fulfilments

  1. countableuncountableThe imagined satisfying of a wish or desire, especially one which was unconscious or not recognised by the holder; the expression of such fulfilment in a dream, fantasy etc.

    The dream represents a certain state of affairs as being as I would wish it to be: its content is thus a wish-fulfilment, its motive a wish.

    1999, Sigmund Freud, translated by Joyce Crick, The Interpretation of Dreams, Oxford, published 2008, page 95

Origin

  1. GermanWunscherfüllung
  2. Englishwish fulfilment

From wish + fulfilment, a calque of German Wunscherfüllung.

More words from German

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

wish fulfilment. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wish%20fulfilment

MLA

“wish fulfilment.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wish%20fulfilment. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wish fulfilment,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wish%20fulfilment.

Source: wish fulfilment on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.