would-be

  • 31Would — Will Will, v. t. & auxiliary. [imp. {Would}. Indic. present, I will (Obs. I wol), thou wilt, he will (Obs. he wol); we, ye, they will.] [OE. willen, imp. wolde; akin to OS. willan, OFries. willa, D. willen, G. wollen, OHG. wollan, wellan, Icel. & …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 32would*/*/*/ — [wʊd] modal verb summary: ■ Would is usually followed by an infinitive without ‘to : A picnic would be nice. Sometimes it is used without a following infinitive: They didn t do as much as they said they would. ■ In conversation and informal… …

    Dictionary for writing and speaking English

  • 33would — verb, past of will Etymology: Middle English wolde, from Old English; akin to Old High German wolta wished, desired Date: before 12th century 1. a. archaic wished, desired b. archaic wish for ; want c. (1) …

    New Collegiate Dictionary

  • 34would — would1 /wood/; unstressed /weuhd/, v. 1. a pt. and pp. of will1. 2. (used to express the future in past sentences): He said he would go tomorrow. 3. (used in place of will, to make a statement or form a question less direct or blunt): That would… …

    Universalium

  • 35would — /wUd/ verb (modal verb) 1 used instead of will to describe what someone has said, asked etc: They said they would meet us at 10.30 at the station. 2 used instead of will with a past tense verb or to show what is likely or possible: What would you …

    Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • 36would — /wʊd / (say wood), weak form /wəd / (say wuhd) verb (modal) 1. (used to form conditional): he would play better if he trained harder; I would have come sooner if I had known; it would be a happy release; who would have thought it? 2. (in polite… …

  • 37would — [[t]wʊd[/t]] unstressed [[t]wəd[/t]] v. 1) a pt. of will I 2) (used to express the future in past sentences): He said he would go tomorrow[/ex] 3) (used in place of will, to make a statement or form a question less direct or blunt): That would… …

    From formal English to slang

  • 38WOULD — v.aux. (3rd sing. would) past of WILL(1), used esp.: 1 (in the 2nd and 3rd persons, and often in the 1st: see SHOULD). a in reported speech (he said he would be home by evening). b to express the conditional mood (they would have been killed if… …

    Useful english dictionary

  • 39would of — Because of careless or hurried pronunciation, would have often sounds like would of or would ve. A verb (have) is needed with would, not a preposition (of): Yes, I would have (would ve) noticed that …

    Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • 40would — modal verb (3rd singular present would) 1》 past of will1, in various senses. 2》 (expressing the conditional mood) indicating the consequence of an imagined event.     ↘(I would) used to give advice. 3》 expressing a desire.     ↘expressing consent …

    English new terms dictionary