Wish means to want something to happen, even though you might have no power to make it happen yourself. When you wish for snow on your birthday, you're hoping for it but you can't control the weather. When you blow out birthday candles and make a wish, you're thinking about something you'd love to have come true.

A wish is different from a plan or a goal. If you wish you were better at piano, that's just wanting it. But if you practice piano every day, you're working toward it. Some wishes are impossible: you might wish you could fly or wish dinosaurs still existed. Other wishes are possible but unlikely: wishing to win the lottery or wishing school would get canceled tomorrow.

People also use wish to express polite hopes for others. You might wish someone good luck before a test, or wish them a happy birthday. The phrase “I wish you well” means you hope good things happen to someone.

The word appears in many familiar expressions. When something seems too good to be true, people call it wishful thinking. A wish list is a collection of things you'd love to have. And “be careful what you wish for” reminds us that getting what we want doesn't always turn out the way we imagined.