Definition of WOULD

would

Meanings

Plural: woulds

Verb

  • Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Used to form the "anterior future", or "future in the past", indicating a futurity relative to a past time.
  • Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Used to, did repeatedly, habitually; indicates an action that happened several times in the past (cannot describe continuous states, as in I used to live in London)
  • Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Was or were determined to; indicating someone's insistence upon doing something.
  • Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Wanted to.
  • Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Used with ellipsis of the infinitive verb, or postponement to a relative clause, in various senses.
  • Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Wished, desired (something).
  • A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Used as the auxiliary of the simple conditional modality, indicating a state or action that is conditional on another.
  • A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Without explicit condition, or with loose or vague implied condition, indicating a hypothetical or imagined state or action.
  • A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Suggesting conditionality or potentiality in order to express a sense of politeness, tentativeness, indirectness, hesitancy, uncertainty, etc.
  • A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Used to express what the speaker would do in another person's situation, as a means of giving a suggestion or recommendation.
  • A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Used to express the speaker's belief or assumption.
  • A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Could naturally be expected to (given the situation, the tendencies of someone's character etc.).
  • A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Used interrogatively to express a polite request; are (you) willing to …?
  • A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Might wish (+ verb in past subjunctive); often used in the first person (with or without that) in the sense of "if only".
  • A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
  • Might desire; wish (something).

Noun

  • Something that would happen, or would be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.

Intj

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

Origin / 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 letter l was originally silent before becoming a spelling pronunciation).

Synonyms

be so good as to, kindly, please, used to

Scrabble Score: 9

would is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
would is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
would is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

would is a valid Words With Friends word