want

Less common meanings

4. 4
   a desirenouncountable

   A desire or need, or something that is desired or needed ('our wants and needs').

   His wants were simple: good food and a comfortable bed.

   Each want, once satisfied, breeds another.

   UsageUsually plural: simple wants, everyday wants.

   Similardesire, need, wish, longing, yearning

5. 5
   desire sexuallyverbtransitive

   To desire someone romantically or, especially, sexually.

   It was obvious that he wanted her.

   They want each other and everyone can see it.

   Similardesire, fancy

   Note

   Desire with a person as its object and attraction as the point: I want him so bad, don't you want me. Pop lyrics from 1981 and 2023 use it the same way. The construction is identical to wanting someone for a job, so context does the work. A romantic or physical setting makes this reading unmistakable. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • The Human League's “Don't You Want Me” was released in 1981. en.wikipedia.org
   • Tate McRae's “greedy” was released in 2023. cdn-p.smehost.net
   • Both songs illustrate the romantic or sexual sense of “want” with a person as its object. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   lacknouncountable

   A lack, absence, or deficiency, often with 'of'.

   The project failed through want of planning.

   The crops died for want of rain.

   UsageUsually followed by of, most often in for want of: failed for want of money.

   Similarlack, absence, shortage, deficiency, dearth

   Oppositeabundance, plenty, surplus

   Note

   The 1611 Bible has the homeless poor embracing the rock for want of a shelter, and the phrase still sounds natural today. Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikipedia.org
   • The Bible describes poor people without shelter embracing the rock for want of a shelter, in Job 24:4–8. en.wikisource.org
7. 7
   noununcountable

   The condition of poverty or destitution.

   They knew hunger and want as children.

   After the flood, many villagers lived in want.

   UsageUsed in phrases such as live in want, hunger and want, and freedom from want.

   Similarpoverty, destitution, need, penury, hardship

   Oppositewealth, plenty, affluence, prosperity

   Note

   Swift observes that the rich can hardly conceive how others can be in want. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • Jonathan Swift observes that wealthy people find it difficult to conceive how others can be in want. en.wikisource.org
8. 8
   requireverbcolloquialtransitive

   To need or lack something, especially something that should be done or supplied ('The lawn wants cutting'; 'The job wants patience').

   The lawn badly wants cutting before the guests arrive on Saturday.

   These boots want mending.

   UsageUsually before an -ing form: the lawn wants cutting. It means needs, not wishes for.

   Similarneed, require

   Note

   An older idiom counts time the same way. It wants but a few days of Martinmas, or she wants but a few months of twenty-one, means that much is still missing before the date arrives. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The older Martinmas construction means that only a few days remain before Martinmas. en.wiktionary.org
   • The older age construction means that a few months remain before the woman turns twenty-one. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   draw you inverbtransitive

   Of an impersonal force, to make something undesirable easy or tempting, as if with intent.

   The slot machine wants you to try just once more.

   These apps want you to keep scrolling all night.

   UsageUsually wants you to + verb, and what is wanted is bad for you: the app wants you to keep scrolling.

   Note

   A figure of speech built on the everyday verb. Something with no mind of its own, such as a game or an illness, is spoken of as if it had designs on you. It stretches the ordinary sense of desire rather than replacing it.

10. 10
    verbdatedintransitive

    To lack or be without something, or to be lacking, deficient, or absent.

    For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find / What wants in blood and spirits, swelled with wind.

    1711, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism

    They of the Citie fought valiantly with Engines, Darts, Arrows: and when Stones wanted, they threw Silver, especially molten silver.

    1625, [Samuel] Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes.

    UsageToday mostly the participle: there was something wanting, meaning missing.

    Similarlack

    Note

    Absence told from the missing thing's side: whatever is short becomes the subject. Purchas has defenders throwing silver when stones wanted, and Pope writes of what wants in blood and spirits. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Purchas describes defenders throwing silver when stones were lacking. en.wiktionary.org
    • Alexander Pope uses the wording 'what wants in blood and spirits'. gutenberg.org
11. 11
    live in needverbdatedintransitive

    To be destitute or in need.

    Better to give than to let a neighbor want.

    You have a gift, sir (thank your education), / Will never let you want.

    1605, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Ben: Ionson His Volpone or The Foxe

    UsageExamples include never want, let someone want, and the biblical I shall not want. In everyday English, use be in need.

    Note

    Destitution as a verb, with no object because nothing in particular is missing; everything is. The common frame is to let someone want, as in Jonson's Volpone: a gift that will never let you want. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Ben Jonson's Volpone contains the passage about a gift that will never let someone want; Mosca speaks it to Voltore. gutenberg.org
12. 12
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To lack something and be able or willing to do without it.

    Note

    Lack accepted rather than suffered: to want something here is to go without it and manage. It pairs naturally with ability or willingness, as in willing to want his presence and cannot want them. Stevenson's "I can do fine wanting it" shows the same resignation. In older prose, cannot want means "cannot do without," not "cannot desire." Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • An older sense of want is to lack something and be able or willing to do without it. en.wiktionary.org
    • The historical expression willing to want his presence is attested. en.wiktionary.org
    • In this historical construction, cannot want means cannot do without. en.wiktionary.org
    • The quotation is exact and occurs in Stevenson's Kidnapped, spoken by Uncle Ebenezer. gutenberg.org
13. 13
    nounUK

    In mining, a depression in coal strata, hollowed out before the later deposits were laid down.
14. 14
    noundialectal

    A mole, the small burrowing animal.