How to Use wishful in a Sentence
wishful
adjective-
No lines for me and lots of people with wishful looks on their faces.
—Gabrielle Porcaro, Travel + Leisure, 2 Oct. 2023
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All hail the new monarch of the wishful thinkers, her majesty Kelly Clarkson!
—Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 4 May 2022
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The playoffs are no longer a wishful dream for Devin Booker.
—Duane Rankin, The Arizona Republic, 22 May 2021
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But even half a million more acre-feet of water seems wishful.
—Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2023
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But that may be little more than wishful thinking on Fox's part.
—Rich Campbell, chicagotribune.com, 29 Aug. 2017
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There was a thick stack of cue cards for every name — some confirmed to stop and speak to Ms. Cox on the carpet, others more wishful.
—Jessica Testa, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2023
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This was more than wishful thinking and graveyard whistling.
—James Wolcott, The Hive, 19 June 2017
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Everywhere, or HOPE for short — an even more wishful ring.
—Jon Murray, The Denver Post, 11 Apr. 2017
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Much of that was sparked by the pandemic, which upended the housing market and caused a wave of wishful scrolling.
—Michael Kolomatsky, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2023
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Only a true wishful thinker could be confident of that.
—Gerard Baker, WSJ, 13 June 2022
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So if everything feels like some kind of wishful-thinking fairy tale, think again.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 30 Aug. 2021
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This is wishful fantasy, as many of the film's skeptics have noted.
—Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 7 Aug. 2017
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Instead of the wishful-thinking climactic chorus at the end, Leah wakes from her dream.
—Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2022
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This adds a new dimension to the wishful-thinking phase of our current crisis.
—Gerard Baker, WSJ, 13 June 2022
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People spend years fighting to maintain a wishful line in the sand, yet a few extra feet of water here or there is hardly a shrug for the ocean.
—Rosanna Xia, Los Angeles Times, 22 Aug. 2023
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The new television series, Harlem is at the wishful front of a resurgence in Black television.
—Malik Peay, Essence, 4 Feb. 2022
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But Out There Screaming embraces the wishful mood that is driving this talk of a new era, and its stories posit what Black horror is and could be.
—Stephen Kearse, The Atlantic, 26 Jan. 2024
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Trumpism may never have had a chance to begin with, but to use this election as the proof seems like wishful argument.
—T.a. Frank, The Hive, 13 Dec. 2017
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The pandemic, of course, is where Trump’s willful and wishful ignorance turned the most deadly.
—Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 5 Dec. 2023
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So is the climax, which goes whole hog with wishful dramatic thinking.
—Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 19 July 2019
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Time management might seem like a wishful afterthought when so many things get thrown your way.
—Yec, Forbes, 28 Jan. 2022
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The fall and Karol G trended on social media on Saturday as fans sent support and wishful thoughts her way.
—al, 27 Nov. 2021
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In the spring and fall, wishful campers have to register with a ranger starting at 8:30 a.m., but in the winter, Camp 4 is run on a self-registration system.
—Skye Sherman, Travel + Leisure, 9 Apr. 2020
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In fact, more wishful trainers dot your journey than in previous games.
—Sam MacHkovech, Ars Technica, 16 Nov. 2018
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Her music gets her there too; the song ends on a wishful note — with banger percussion — about togetherness.
—New York Times, 24 July 2022
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But the comparison of Chandler and Curry to Pippen and Grant was wishful thinking at best.
—Phil Rosenthal, chicagotribune.com, 22 June 2017
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Some of your plans could prove a bit wishful and unworkable, so reach out to friends and co-workers for their realistic input.
—Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive.com, 1 July 2019
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In fact, these testers were so excited about this chair that there were no mentions of improvements or wishful features.
—Alyssa Brascia, Peoplemag, 19 July 2023
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In places where wolves and mountain lions have died out, rumors often spread of sightings, like the stories of the Loch Ness monster, more wishful than frightened.
—Liza Featherstone, The New Republic, 14 Jan. 2022
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The facts of this case stand in stark contrast to the government’s wishful and illusory arguments.
—Jerry Dunleavy, Washington Examiner, 18 Feb. 2020
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wishful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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