want
feel or have a desire for; want strongly
How often you will meet it
Rank 219 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 103,634 times across 175,160 chapters — 0.049% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 500 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
verb
- feel or have a desire for; want strongly also: desire I want to go home nowI want my own room
- have need of also: need, require This piano wants the attention of a competent tuner
- hunt or look for; want for a particular reason Your former neighbor is wanted by the FBIUncle Sam wants you
- wish or demand the presence of I want you here at noon!
- be without, lack; be deficient in want courtesywant the strength to go on living
noun
- a state of extreme poverty also: privation, deprivation, neediness
- the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable also: lack, deficiency there is a serious lack of insight into the problemwater is the critical deficiency in desert regions
- anything that is necessary but lacking also: need he had sufficient means to meet his simple needsI tried to supply his wants
want in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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Confound it! if Damer did want to strain a point, why shouldn't he?
The Hill: A Romance of Friendship · Horace Annesley Vachell · Chapter 1
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We want that cheer; we'll have it; but I've got a word first.
The Courage of the Commonplace · Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews · Chapter 1
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As soon as you have one, you seem to want to throw it away.
The Picture of Dorian Gray · Oscar Wilde · Chapter 1
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I began to dig in the rock, yet was obliged to desist for want of a pickax, shovel, and wheel-barrow.
The Life and Most Surprising Adventures · Daniel Defoe · Chapter 1
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At first Cambyses looked angrily at him and his rent garments, and then asked with a bitter smile; "What do you want?"
An Egyptian Princess — Volume 07 · Georg Ebers · Chapter 1