want

Definitions

1. verb

   To wish for something or to need it.

   Examples

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

   To try to make you do something, often something bad, used about a thing or a game.

   Examples

   • The game wants you to spend a lot of money.
   • Fear wants you to stay at home.
3. verb

   To wish to see someone or need them for a job.

   Examples

   • You are exactly the person we want for this job.
   • The police want him for stealing.
4. verb

   To wish for something to happen.

   Examples

   • You can leave if you want.
   • Stay if you want. I don't mind either way.
5. verb

   Used to give advice.

   Examples

   • You'll want to repeat this three or four times.
   • You want to be careful with that knife.
6. verb

   To be short of something, in old-fashioned use.

   Examples

   • It wants but a few days of Christmas.
   • She wants only a few months of turning twenty-one.
   ≈need≈be in need of
7. verb

   To need something, in old-fashioned use.

   Examples

   • Man wants but little here below.
   • This old house wants a lot of repair.
8. verb

   To be missing.

   Examples

   • There was something wanting in the play.
   • When money was short, the town cut back on repairs.
9. verb

   To be very poor.

   Examples

   • You have a gift, sir. It will never let you want.
   • The poor people desperately wanted.
10. verb

    To be without something, in old-fashioned use.

    Examples

    • He who can be a pilot wants a ship.
    • I saw that your whip wanted a lash.
    ≈lack≈be without