English Explanatory Dictionary

would

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  2. Used to form the "anterior future", or "future in the past", indicating a futurity relative to a past time.
  3. Used to, did repeatedly, habitually; indicates an action that happened several times in the past (cannot describe continuous states, as in I used to live in London)
  4. Was or were determined to; indicating someone's insistence upon doing something.
  5. Wanted to.
  6. Used with ellipsis of the infinitive verb, or postponement to a relative clause, in various senses.
  7. Wished, desired (something).
  8. A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  9. Used as the auxiliary of the simple conditional modality, indicating a state or action that is conditional on another.
  10. Without explicit condition, or with loose or vague implied condition, indicating a hypothetical or imagined state or action.
  11. Suggesting conditionality or potentiality in order to express a sense of politeness, tentativeness, indirectness, hesitancy, uncertainty, etc.
  12. Used to express what the speaker would do in another person's situation, as a means of giving a suggestion or recommendation.
noun
  1. Something that would happen, or would be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.
intj
  1. Ellipsis of I would, used to denote that the speaker finds another person sexually attractive.

Pronunciation

/wəd/ /əd/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Pvanp7-would (more distinctly unstressed).wav /(w)ʊ(l)d/ /wʊd/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Pvanp7-would (stressed).wav en-us-would.ogg /wuːld/ /wʉd/

Word forms

would wou'd woulds

Etymology

From Old English wolde, past tense of willan, predecessor of will. The loss of /l/ in this word is probably due to weak stress, as in should and could (though in the latter, the /l/ was due to the analogy of the former two).

Synonyms

be so good as to kindly please used to

Related words

will wouldn't wouldst would like would've could should

Derived words

as fate would have it as luck would have it be it what it would butter would not melt in someone's mouth chance would be a fine thing claret would be port if it could do unto others as you would have them do unto you Eddie would go face that would stop a clock how would I know if pigs had wings, they would fly I would I would rather die never-would-be the cat would eat fish but would not wet her feet what would Jesus do what would you like who would have guessed who would have known who would have thought it who would have thunk it would give a Jew's eye would have liked to would it hurt would it kill someone would lose one's head if it wasn't attached would lose one's head if it wasn't bolted on would lose one's head if it wasn't glued on would lose one's head if it wasn't screwed on would lose one's head if it wasn't stuck on would lose one's head if it wasn't tied on would lose one's head if it weren't attached would the real someone please stand up would you believe would you believe it would you be so kind as to would you like to go out with me would you mind putting on your seat belt you would think

Translations

Dutch: zou Dutch: zouden Dutch: gelieve Dutch: Gelieve de TV uit te schakelen Dutch: a.u.b. Esperanto: We sat on the bench Esperanto: ĉu la buso malfruos ĉi tiun fojon. Esperanto: bonvoli Esperanto: mi petas? Finnish: We sat on the bench French: We sat on the bench French: vouloir French: veuillez French: pouvoir French: s'il te plaît? French: Pourriez-vous French: Veuillez éteindre la télévision French: s'il vous plaît? German: We sat on the bench German: ob der Bus diesmal zu spät käme. Hungarian: We sat on the bench Hungarian: és azon gondolkoztunk Hungarian: hogy ezúttal elkésik-e a busz. Hungarian: Megtennéd Hungarian: hogy kikapcsolod a tv-t? Italian: We sat on the bench Italian: volere Italian: per favore? Italian: Vuole spegnere la televisione Portuguese: We sat on the bench Portuguese: por favor Portuguese: por favor? Portuguese: Poderia desligar a televisão Russian: We sat on the bench Russian: опоздает ли автобус. Russian: Выключите Russian: пожалуйста Russian: телевизор. Spanish: conditional tense Spanish: We sat on the bench Spanish: por favor Spanish: por favor? Spanish: ¿Podría usted apagar la televisión Swedish: skulle Swedish: We sat on the bench Turkish: We sat on the bench
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