Wish vs. Will — What's the Difference?

A wish is a hope or desire for something. In fiction, wishes can be used as plot devices.

The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides upon a course of action

Feel or express a strong desire or hope for something that cannot or probably will not happen

Diligent purposefulness; determination

Want to do something

Self-control; self-discipline

Hope that (someone) has to deal with someone or something undesirable

A desire, purpose, or determination, especially of one in authority

A desire or hope for something to happen

Deliberate intention or wish

A feeling that one would like to have or do something or to see something happen; a desire, longing, or strong inclination for a specific thing.

Free discretion; inclination or pleasure

An expression of a desire, longing, or strong inclination

Bearing or attitude toward others; disposition

An expression of desire for the happiness or success of another

A legal declaration of how a person wishes their personal possessions to be disposed of after death.

Something desired or longed for

A legally executed document containing this declaration.

To long for; want.

To decide on or intend

To feel or express a desire for

To yearn for; desire

To order, entreat, or request

To decree, dictate, or order

To desire (something bad) to happen to someone

To induce or try to induce by sheer force of will

To have or feel a desire

To grant in a legal will; bequeath

To express a wish.

To order to direct in a legal will

A desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen.

To exercise the will.

An expression of such a desire, often connected with ideas of magic and supernatural power.

To make a choice; choose

The thing desired or longed for.

To wish; desire

(Sussex) A water meadow.

(auxiliary) Used to express the future tense, sometimes with some implication of volition when used in the first person. Compare shall.

(transitive) To desire; to want.

(auxiliary) To be able to, to have the capacity to.

To hope (+ object clause with may or in present subjunctive).

(auxiliary) Expressing a present tense with some conditional or subjective weakening: "will turn out to", "must by inference".

To hope (for a particular outcome), even if that outcome is unlikely to occur or cannot occur.

(auxiliary) To habitually do (a given action).

(ditransitive) To bestow (a thought or gesture) towards (someone or something).

(auxiliary) To choose or agree to (do something); used to express intention but without any temporal connotations (+ bare infinitive), often in questions and negation.

To request or desire to do an activity.

To wish, desire (something).

(transitive) To recommend; to seek confidence or favour on behalf of.

To wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that).

To have a desire or yearning; to long; to hanker.

(archaic) Implying will go.

To desire; to long for; to hanker after; to have a mind or disposition toward.

To instruct (that something be done) in one's will.

To frame or express desires concerning; to invoke in favor of, or against, any one; to attribute, or cal down, in desire; to invoke; to imprecate.

(transitive) To bequeath (something) to someone in one's will (legal document).

To recommend; to seek confidence or favor in behalf of.

(transitive) To exert one's force of will (intention) in order to compel, or attempt to compel, something to happen or someone to do something.

Desire; eager desire; longing.

One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention.

Expression of desire; request; petition; hence, invocation or imprecation.

The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition.

A thing desired; an object of desire.

One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands.

A specific feeling of desire;

Firmity of purpose, fixity of intent

An expression of some desire or inclination;

(law) A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes.

(usually plural) a polite expression of desire for someone's welfare;

(archaic) That which is desired; one's wish.

The particular preference that you have;

(archaic) Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.)

Hope for; have a wish;

The power of choosing; the faculty or endowment of the soul by which it is capable of choosing; the faculty or power of the mind by which we decide to do or not to do; the power or faculty of preferring or selecting one of two or more objects.

Prefer or wish to do something;

The choice which is made; a determination or preference which results from the act or exercise of the power of choice; a volition.

Have in mind;

The choice or determination of one who has authority; a decree; a command; discretionary pleasure.

Make or express a wish;

Strong wish or inclination; desire; purpose.

Feel or express a desire or hope concerning the future or fortune of

That which is strongly wished or desired.

Order politely; express a wish for

Arbitrary disposal; power to control, dispose, or determine.

Invoke upon;

The legal declaration of a person's mind as to the manner in which he would have his property or estate disposed of after his death; the written instrument, legally executed, by which a man makes disposition of his estate, to take effect after his death; testament; devise. See the Note under Testament, 1.

To wish; to desire; to incline to have.

As an auxiliary, will is used to denote futurity dependent on the verb. Thus, in first person, "I will" denotes willingness, consent, promise; and when "will" is emphasized, it denotes determination or fixed purpose; as, I will go if you wish; I will go at all hazards. In the second and third persons, the idea of distinct volition, wish, or purpose is evanescent, and simple certainty is appropriately expressed; as, "You will go," or "He will go," describes a future event as a fact only. To emphasize will denotes (according to the tone or context) certain futurity or fixed determination.

To be willing; to be inclined or disposed; to be pleased; to wish; to desire.

To form a distinct volition of; to determine by an act of choice; to ordain; to decree.

To enjoin or command, as that which is determined by an act of volition; to direct; to order.

To give or direct the disposal of by testament; to bequeath; to devise; as, to will one's estate to a child; also, to order or direct by testament; as, he willed that his nephew should have his watch.

To exercise an act of volition; to choose; to decide; to determine; to decree.

The capability of conscious choice and decision and intention;

A fixed and persistent intent or purpose;

A legal document declaring a person's wishes regarding the disposal of their property when they die

Decree or ordain;

Have in mind;

Determine by choice;

Leave or give by will after one's death;