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would

verb
/wəd/

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).

  1. inherited from wolde

Definitions

  1. Past tense of will

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

    • On my first day at University, I met the woman who would become my wife.
    • Hi! I thought I'd come over and introduce myself. My name’s Chema.
    • I'm really flattered you would call your daughter after me.

  2. A modal verb, the subjunctive of will

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

    • If I won the lottery, I would give half the money to charity.
    • I'd never do anything that went against my conscience.
    • If I could fly, I would away to those realms of light and warmth – far, far away in the southern clime[…].

  3. Something that would happen, or would be the case, under different circumstances

    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.
    • Shushona you must learn to rightfully prioritize all the woulds, shoulds and coulds of your life.
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Ellipsis of I would, used to denote that the speaker finds another person sexually…

      Ellipsis of I would, used to denote that the speaker finds another person sexually attractive.

The neighborhood

Derived

as fate would have it, as luck would have it, be it what it would, butter would not melt in someone's mouth, chance would be a fine thing, claret would be port if it could, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, Eddie would go, face that would stop a clock, how would I know, if pigs had wings, they would fly, I would, I would rather die, never-would-be, the cat would eat fish but would not wet her feet, what would Jesus do, what would you like, who would have guessed, who would have known, who would have thought it, who would have thunk it, would give a Jew's eye, would have liked to, would it hurt, would it kill someone, would lose one's head if it wasn't attached, would lose one's head if it wasn't bolted on, would lose one's head if it wasn't glued on, would lose one's head if it wasn't screwed on, would lose one's head if it wasn't stuck on, would lose one's head if it wasn't tied on, would lose one's head if it weren't attached, would the real someone please stand up, would you believe, would you believe it, would you be so kind as to, would you like to go out with me, would you mind putting on your seat belt, you would think

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for would. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA