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Would
Definitions
- 1 Ellipsis of I would, used to denote that the speaker finds another person sexually attractive. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, idiomatic, slang
- 1 Something that would happen, or would be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.
"When the golf ball is there, the whole self-interference package — the hopes, worries, and fears; the thoughts on how-to and how-not-to; the woulds, the coulds, and the shoulds — is there too."
- 1 Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Used to form the "anterior future", or "future in the past", indicating a futurity relative to a past time. auxiliary
"On my first day at University, I met the woman who would become my wife."
- 2 Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; 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) auxiliary
"When we were younger, we would cycle out to the beach most summer Sundays."
- 3 Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Was or were determined to; indicating someone's insistence upon doing something. auxiliary
"I asked her to stay in with me, but she would go out."
- 4 Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Wanted to. archaic, auxiliary
"And thenne at laste a-nother sayd that he wolde have eyren. Then the good wyf sayd that she understod hym wel."
- 5 Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Used with ellipsis of the infinitive verb, or postponement to a relative clause, in various senses. archaic, auxiliary
"At which time he told me, he would to London that week, and so to Oxford."
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- 6 Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Wished, desired (something). auxiliary, obsolete
- 7 A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Used as the auxiliary of the simple conditional modality, indicating a state or action that is conditional on another. auxiliary
"If I won the lottery, I would give half the money to charity."
- 8 A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Without explicit condition, or with loose or vague implied condition, indicating a hypothetical or imagined state or action. auxiliary
"I would love to come and visit."
- 9 A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Suggesting conditionality or potentiality in order to express a sense of politeness, tentativeness, indirectness, hesitancy, uncertainty, etc. auxiliary
"I would ask you all to sit down."
- 10 A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Used to express what the speaker would do in another person's situation, as a means of giving a suggestion or recommendation. auxiliary
"It's disgraceful the way that they've treated you. I would write and complain."
- 11 A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Used to express the speaker's belief or assumption. auxiliary
"She looked as if she would be sick."
- 12 A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Could naturally be expected to (given the situation, the tendencies of someone's character etc.). auxiliary
"Sorry, officer, I wouldn't know anything about the crime, since I was nowhere near the scene."
- 13 A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Used interrogatively to express a polite request; are (you) willing to …? auxiliary
"Would you pass the salt, please?"
- 14 A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Might wish (+ verb in past subjunctive); often used in the first person (with or without that) in the sense of "if only". archaic, auxiliary
"PARIS My lord, I would that Thursday were tomorrow."
- 15 A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.; Might desire; wish (something). archaic, auxiliary
"What dost thou professe? What would’st thou with vs?"
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).
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).
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).
See also for "would"
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