wannabe

noun

wan·​na·​be ˈwä-nə-ˌbē 

variants or less commonly wannabee

1

: a person who wants or aspires to be someone or something else or who tries to look or act like someone else

2

: something (such as a company, city, or product) intended to rival another of its kind that has been successful

especially : one for which hopes have failed or are likely to fail

Synonyms

• aper
• copycat
• copyist
• echo
• follower
• imitator
• rubber stamp

Examples of wannabe in a Sentence

an entrepreneur who seems to have made his fortune mainly by giving how-to-get-rich lectures to entrepreneurial wannabes

Recent Examples on the Web

She’s judged wannabes on American Idol; she’s headlined the Super Bowl halftime show; she’s celebrated a king’s coronation. —Maura Johnston, Rolling Stone, 20 Sep. 2024

Not the venture capitalists who sank billions into EV wannabes in a flight of post-rational exuberance. —Mark Phelan, USA TODAY, 1 Sep. 2024

Like Hughes and every other 20-something, male wannabe in Nashville, Sadler had a prodigious mullet. —Keith Sharon, USA TODAY, 2 Sep. 2024

And al Qaeda central, while inspiring some wannabes abroad and creating many videos, has done almost nothing of consequence in 20 years. —John Mueller, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2021

Word History

Etymology

from the phrase want to be

First Known Use

1976, in the meaning defined at sense 1