wannabe
Americannoun
plural
wannabesnoun
Etymology
Origin of wannabe
First recorded in 1980–85; derivative of (I) wanna be…
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Yet, these supposedly most-promising stars are mostly hapless wannabes leaning on their skills in nunchucks and mime.
From Los Angeles Times
“There’s a pool, I think, of wannabe buyers who have just been sitting on the sidelines and waiting for rates to come down,” Daniel Seely said.
Unless an unexpected candidate decides to take the plunge, and goodness knows what could happen these days, a change at the top doesn't seem likely to be prompted by the wannabe contenders.
From BBC
I was a young wannabe filmmaker trying to learn how to make movies, and somebody like me was up there onstage telling a story about how he got there.
From Los Angeles Times
“Well,” said Zeke, who felt like this was an awful lot of pressure on one measly apology to a lying, bullying, wannabe supervillain, “I guess so.”
From Literature
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.