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wish list

wish list

27 1.9
A list of things or experiences someone wants
  • noun
  • /ˈwɪʃ lɪst/
translation icon : lista de deseos
  • For her birthday, she wrote down all the toys she wanted on her wish list.
  • a long wish list

So Next up on my, like, wish list is Sister Citizen.

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Examples

  • So this is something that's been on my wish list for a while and it's finally here.

  • Were you tracking the items using a wish-list feature of the online store?

    Blog text (20)
  • If I had a wish list for this line, here it is.

  • So this bag is actually on my wish list, but one of you is going to be going home.

  • Did you see my wish list?

  • William and I were just making our Christmas wish lists for Santa.

  • After showing them houses that we thought fit their wish list, we came away empty-handed.

    Blog text (2)
  • Washington's wish list is long and deserves to be designed with some sense of priority.

    Academic text (2009)
  • We've always been a must-have item... number one on every wish list.

  • I have been adding books to my wish list for the past few months.

Synonyms

wishlist
vswish list
5 2.8

A list of things someone wants to have or do

is written as two separate words rather than one

How Many

catalog
  • US
211 2.5
wish list
27 1.9
short list
38 3.7

Surface Forms

wish list singular
wish lists plural

Morphology

wish + list

The meaning 'a list of things someone wants' is directly and compositionally derived from 'wish' (desire) + 'list' (recorded sequence of items). This straightforward noun–noun compound follows common compositional patterns (e.g., 'lista de deseos' in Spanish), so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand it.

Etymology

Wish list comes from the simple idea of writing your wishes on a list, like a child giving Santa a paper of things they want. That's why wish list means 'a list of things or experiences someone wants or hopes for'.