Wishful
adjectiveExpressing or based on a longing or desire, often one unlikely to be fulfilled.
How to spell wishful
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce wishful
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does wishful mean?
- adjectiveExpressing or based on a longing or desire, often one unlikely to be fulfilled.
Wishful in a sentence
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The budget forecast was pure wishful thinking rather than hard analysis.
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She gave the empty bakery shelf a wishful glance before walking on.
Where does wishful come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This word is a homegrown English formation, built from the native noun 'wish' plus the adjective-forming suffix '-ful', which originally meant 'full of'. The root 'wish' descends from Old English 'wyscan', a verb meaning 'to desire' or 'to long for', and it shares an ancient ancestry with German 'wunschen' and the broader Germanic family of words for wanting. The suffix '-ful' is the same element seen in 'hopeful' and 'careful', signalling that the noun it attaches to is present in abundance. 'Wishful' appears in English from around the late 1500s, originally in the simple sense of 'desirous' or 'eager'. The familiar modern collocation 'wishful thinking', meaning belief shaped by what one wants rather than by evidence, is much later and helped fix the word firmly in everyday use. The single 'l' ending is the spelling trap, since '-ful' as a suffix always takes one 'l', unlike the standalone word 'full'.
How the word is built
- wish (desire)
- -ful (full of, characterised by)
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