Word definition: would

Etimology


From Old English wolde, past tense of willan.

verb


would (auxiliary)

Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.

A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.

Examples


On my first day at University, I met the woman who would become my wife.

That her Lily should have been won and not worn, had been, and would be, a trouble to her for ever.

Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.

Toure would have the decisive say though, rising high to power a header past Kenny from Aleksandar Kolarov's cross.

When we were younger, we would cycle out to the beach most summer Sundays.

No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.

When we were kids we would sit by the radio with a tape recorder on a Sunday, listening out for the chart songs we wanted to have.

I asked her to stay in with me, but she would go out.

Then he took to breeding silk-worms, which he would bring in two or three times a day, in little paper boxes, to show the old lady […].

Sorry, officer, I wouldn't know anything about the crime, since I was nowhere near the scene.

The free access model, the media magnate said last week, was "malfunctioning". Well he would, wouldn't he?

And thenne at laste a-nother sayd that he wolde have eyren. Then the good wyf sayd that she understod hym wel.

The Greeks, especially those who would be thought adepts in mystic theology, ran after fantastic allegories […].

At which time he told me, he would to London that week, and so to Oxford.

He sat as one astonish'd, a good-while, looking at me, without speaking a Word, till I came quite up to him, kneel'd on one Knee to him, and almost whether he would or no, kiss'd his Hand […].

'I thank thee, oh Ayesha,' I replied, with as much dignity as I could command, 'but if there be such a place as thou dost describe, and if in this strange place there may be found a fiery virtue that can hold off Death when he comes to pluck us by the hand, yet would I none of it.'

If I won the lottery, I would give half the money to charity.

If I could fly, I would away to those realms of light and warmth – far, far away in the southern clime […].

Warnock admitted it would be the ideal scenario if he received a Carling Cup winners' medal as well as an England call-up […].

I would love to come and visit.

Look at that yummy cake! I would eat that all up!

It's a piece of old folklore for which I would love to find hard proof.

I would ask you all to sit down.

I would imagine that they have already left.

“Those trials are being run by the American army so surely you must have access to the documents?” “Well, yeah, you’d think.”

Departing on schedule with the help of a friendly doctor was quite usual. Does that still apply? It would seem so.

It's disgraceful the way that they've treated you. I would write and complain.

He's very security-conscious, so he would have remembered to lock the door.

They would be arriving in London round about now.

Would you pass the salt, please?

KING HENRYThou dost not wish more help from England, coz?WESTMORELANDGod’s will, my liege, would you and I alone,Without more help, could fight this royal battle!

I presently wished, would that I had been in their clothes! would that I had been born Peter! would that I had been born John!

I would she had retained her original haughtiness of disposition, or that I had a larger share of Front-de-Bœuf's thrice-tempered hardness of heart!

But as the youth increased their annoyance by declaring that the goddess was quite right, because the Emperor was Archon Eponym of the city of Athens, he said: "Would that he also presided the Panathenaic festival."

What dost thou professe? What would’st thou with vs?

Related words


synonyms

(indicating an action in the past that happened repeatedly or commonly): used to

(used to express a polite request): be so good as to, kindly, please

related terms

will - present tense of would

wouldn't - negative of would

wouldst - archaic second person singular form of would

would like

would've

noun


would (plural woulds)

Something that would happen, or would be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.

Examples


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.

Shushona you must learn to rightfully prioritize all the woulds, shoulds and coulds of your life.

interjection


would

(slang, idiomatic) Ellipsis of I would: used to denote that the speaker finds another person sexually attractive.

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