would
would Lexical Profile
would Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To express the consequence of an imagined, hypothetical, or conditional event or situation (used as a modal auxiliary).
"If we had more funding, we would expand the research program immediately."
To indicate the future-in-the-past or reported speech corresponding to 'will' from a past perspective (used as a modal auxiliary).
"She promised that she would submit the completed manuscript by Friday."
To make a polite request, invitation, offer, or statement of preference or inclination (used as a modal auxiliary).
"Would you mind reviewing my presentation slides before the meeting begins?"
To express a habitual, repeated, or customary action in the past (used as a modal auxiliary).
"Every summer, our family would gather at the lake house for a week of reading and swimming."
To wish, desire, or long for a particular outcome (archaic or literary).
"Would that we had known the full complexity of the problem from the very beginning."
Word Nuance & Usage
'Would' is a defective modal auxiliary verb lacking an infinitive or participle forms, and it is a strict homophone of 'wood' (the fibrous material of trees). In spoken contractions ('would've'), it is frequently miswritten as 'would of' instead of the grammatically correct 'would have'.
• Rhymes for would
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from Old English 'wolde', the past tense of 'willan' (to wish, desire, or intend), which traces back to the Proto-Germanic root '*wiljana'.