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Glite Dictionary
to wish well

to wish well

54 2.7
To hope that someone will have good luck or success
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : desear lo mejor a
  • Thank you for your service and I wish you well in your future endeavors.

And in the meantime, I wish you the best and I'll be back.

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Examples

  • Yours is an excellent scheme and I wish you well with it.

    Living (2022)

  • Suddenly, he stood up, shook my hand, and wished me well.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Maybe you could cut them off and wish them well on their journey.

  • So but I wish you well man, and I appreciate you calling in.

    Theo Von

  • And until then, we wish you well.

    Nope (2022)

  • Look, I wish you well with your project.

    Infamous (2006)

  • We will all miss John at Stanford, but we wish him well on his new journey.

  • We thank you for your generosity and wish you all the best in the days, months, and years to come.

  • Tanner is on his own journey, and I wish him well.

    Love in Winterland (2020)

  • We will all miss John at Stanford, but we wish him well on his new journey.

Synonyms

to wish
vsto wish well
577 1.0

To express hope that something good will happen to someone

focuses on future success rather than general good fortune
to bless
vsto wish well
453 1.8

To give someone good luck and happiness

expresses hope for someone's future good rather than actually causing it

How Supportive

to bless
453 1.8
to root for
  • Informal
110 3.0
to pray
∞ 1.0
to wish well
54 2.7

Surface Forms

wish well infinitive
wished well past
wished well past participle
wishing well present participle
wishes well third person singular

Morphology

wish + well

The meaning 'to express hope that someone will have good fortune' is directly and compositionally derived from 'wish' (to express hope) + 'well' (a favorable outcome). This is a common, literal pattern with clear cross-linguistic parallels, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The phrase wish well may come from the old habit of throwing a coin into a water well and making a wish. Because people used a well to ask for good things, to wish well came to mean 'hope someone has good luck'.