Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To have a strong feeling to have (something); wish (to possess or do something); desire greatly: synonym: desire.
  • intransitive verb To desire (someone to do something).
  • intransitive verb To request the presence or assistance of.
  • intransitive verb To seek with intent to capture.
  • intransitive verb To have an inclination toward; like.
  • intransitive verb Informal To be obliged (to do something).
  • intransitive verb To be in need of; require.
  • intransitive verb To be without; lack.
  • intransitive verb To be inclined or desirous; wish.
  • noun The condition or quality of lacking something usual or necessary.
  • noun Pressing need; destitution.
  • noun Something desired.
  • noun A defect of character; a fault.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Lacking; deficient.
  • To be without; be destitute of; lack: as, to want knowledge or judgment; to want food, clothing, or money.
  • To be deficient in; fall short in; be lack ing in respect of, or to the amount of.
  • To do without; dispense with; spare.
  • To have occasion for, as something requi site, useful, or proper; require; need.
  • To feel a desire for; feel the need of; wish or long for; desire; crave.
  • To desire to see, speak to, or do business with; desire the presence or assistance of; de sire or require to do something: as, you are the very man we want; call me if I am wanted; the general wanted him to capture the battery.
  • To be lacking, deficient, or absent.
  • To fail; give out; fall short.
  • To be in need; suffer from lack of some thing.
  • noun The mole or moldwarp.
  • noun Lack; deficiency; scarcity; dearth, or absence of what is needed or desired: as, want of thought; want of money.
  • noun A vacant part, place, or space; a vacancy.
  • noun That which is lacking, but needed; the vacancy caused by the absence of some need ful, important, or desirable thing.
  • noun The state of being without means; poverty; penury; indigence.
  • noun A time of need.
  • noun That which cannot be dispensed with; a necessity.
  • noun In coal-mining, same as nip, 8.
  • noun Synonyms Insufficiency, scantiness, dearth, default, failure.
  • noun Requirement, de sideratum.
  • noun Need, Indigence, etc. (see poverty), dis tress, straits.
  • noun A glove.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To be without; to be destitute of, or deficient in; not to have; to lack
  • transitive verb To have occasion for, as useful, proper, or requisite; to require; to need.
  • transitive verb To feel need of; to wish or long for; to desire; to crave.
  • noun The state of not having; the condition of being without anything; absence or scarcity of what is needed or desired; deficiency; lack
  • noun Specifically, absence or lack of necessaries; destitution; poverty; penury; indigence; need.
  • noun That which is needed or desired; a thing of which the loss is felt; what is not possessed, and is necessary for use or pleasure.
  • noun (Mining), engraving A depression in coal strata, hollowed out before the subsequent deposition took place.
  • intransitive verb To be absent; to be deficient or lacking; to fail; not to be sufficient; to fall or come short; to lack; -- often used impersonally with of.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English wanten, to be lacking, from Old Norse vanta; see euə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English wanten ("to lack"), from Old Norse vanta ("to lack"), from Proto-Germanic *wanatōnan (“to be wanting, lack”), from *wanô (“lack, deficiency”), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)wAn-, *wān- (“empty”). Cognate with Middle High German wan ("not full, empty"), Middle Dutch wan ("empty, poor"), Old English wana ("want, lack, absence, deficiency"), Latin vanus ("empty"). See wan.

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Examples

  • Oh, you mean he doesn't ***really*** want to follow God's Law, but wants to do what all fundagelicals do, and pretend that God's Law is what ever bits of the Bible they *want* to follow, while insisting Jesus, in obviously one of his "unpublished" works, overturned the bits they don't?

    Huckabee Says US Constitution Should Reflect "God's Standards" Howard M. Friedman 2008

  • May 27, 2008 at 11:39 am dis mai 3rd day ov gibben up skwrlz……gotta hab wun…..want want want…….

    want want want want want - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2008

  • I want Atlantis to *want* something, to be about something, to have something to say to me.

    numfar, the dance of bitterness! hth_the_first 2006

  • “That's what I'd sign up for,” he said, explaining he'd want to defend the right “to learn and think what you want” as Canadians have now taken as a birthright.

    Daimnation!: There is hope: Bruce Cockburn--a man with principles who can and will shoot 2006

  • And the irony for me is, now that he actually does something that makes me want to boycott his films, he goes and puts out a movie I actually * want* to see this summer.

    xenu-phobia 2005

  • In the world I want to see, not only would women have complete freedom to choose abortion, those who *want* to carry to term would be supported–in meaningful ways, ie financial support, affordable childcare, etc.

    Abortion and Control 2005

  •  This individual would not want any interaction, as he did not want  interaction on a one-to-one basis.

    TEDBUNDY Michaud, S G & Aynesworth H 1989

  • Each individual perceived some want in his neighbor, and forthwith proceeded to supply this want, _charging just as much for the thing supplied as the desire for the article or his need of it would force the person supplied to pay; without reference to the equitable price, estimated with respect to the labor bestowed in supplying the want_.

    Continental Monthly , Vol. 6, No. 1, July, 1864 Devoted to Literature and National Policy. Various

  • They can then consult their own wishes in the matter, they can have intercourse whenever they want and _the way they want_.

    Woman Her Sex and Love Life William J. Robinson

  • Really know what you want as a home, _want it_, and you can work out any scheme, provided you have intelligence, patience and perseverance.

    The Art of Interior Decoration Grace Wood

Comments

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  • A mole.

    Thus, wanti-tump or onti-tump, a molehill. - old provincial term from Gloucestershire.

    May 2, 2011