want
pronunciation
How to pronounce want in British English:
UK [wɒnt]
How to pronounce want in American English:
US [wɑːnt]
-
- Noun:
- a state of extreme poverty
- the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable
- anything that is necessary but lacking
- a specific feeling of desire
-
- Verb:
- feel or have a desire for; want strongly
- have need of
- wish or demand the presence of
- hunt or look for; want for a particular reason
- be without, lack; be deficient in
Word Origin
- want
- want: [12] Etymologically, to want something is to ‘lack’ it (a sense still intact in the noun want); ‘wishing to have’ is a secondary extension of this. The word was borrowed from Old Norse vanta ‘be lacking’. This in turn was descended from a prehistoric Germanic *wanatōn, which was formed from the base *wan- ‘lacking’ (source also of English wane).=> wane
- want (v.)
- c. 1200, "to be lacking," from Old Norse vanta "to lack, want," earlier *wanaton, from Proto-Germanic *wanen, from PIE *we-no-, from root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out" (see vain). The meaning "desire, wish for, feel the need of" is recorded by 1706.
- want (n.)
- c. 1200, "deficiency, insufficiency, shortage," from want (v.) and from Old Norse vant, neuter of vanr "wanting, deficient;" related to Old English wanian "to diminish" (see wane). Meaning "state of destitution, poverty" is recorded from early 14c. Meaning "thing desired, that which is lacking but needed" is from 1560s. Phrase for want of is recorded from c. 1400. Newspaper want ad is recorded from 1897. Middle English had wantsum (c. 1200) "in want, deprived of," literally "want-some."
Antonym
Example
- 1. That suggests they want information .
- 2. Ask visitors what they want .
- 3. Remind yourself of what you want .
- 4. French newspapers want the same .
- 5. They want a consistent conviction .