would
//wəd//
Forms
- Plural
- woulds
Definitions
1.Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
- I asked her to stay in with me, but she would go out.
- I'm really flattered you would call your daughter after me.
- Hi! I thought I'd come over and introduce myself. My name’s Chema.
2.A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
- I would love to come and visit.
- I would ask you all to sit down.
- Would you pass the salt, please?
1.Something that would happen, or would be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.
- Shushona you must learn to rightfully prioritize all the woulds, shoulds and coulds of your life.
- 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.
1.Ellipsis of I would, used to denote that the speaker finds another person sexually attractive.(slang)
Frequency
Overall
Very common· #49
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Common
- General reading & writing
- Very common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Common
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).