Show vs Want - What's the difference?
show | want |
To display, to have somebody see (something).
* , chapter=22
, title= To bestow; to confer.
To indicate (a fact) to be true; to demonstrate.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
, author=John T. Jost, volume=100, issue=2, page=162, magazine=(American Scientist)
, title= To guide or escort.
To be visible, to be seen.
* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
* (1809-1892)
*
, title= (informal) To put in an appearance; show up.
(informal) To have an enlarged belly and thus be recognizable as pregnant.
(racing) To finish third, especially of horses or dogs.
(obsolete) To have a certain appearance, such as well or ill, fit or unfit; to become or suit; to appear.
* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
(countable) A play, dance, or other entertainment.
* , chapter=4
, title= (countable) An exhibition of items.
(countable) A demonstration.
(countable) A broadcast program/programme.
(countable) A movie.
(uncountable) Mere display or pomp with no substance.
* Young
A project or presentation.
The major leagues.
(mining, obsolete) A pale blue flame at the top of a candle flame, indicating the presence of firedamp.
(obsolete) Semblance; likeness; appearance.
* Bible, Luke xx. 46. 47
* (John Milton)
(medicine) A discharge, from the vagina, of mucus streaked with blood, occurring a short time before labor.
To wish for or to desire (something).
* , chapter=13
, title= * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
, title=
* Dryden
To lack, not to have (something).
*, II.3.7:
* James Merrick
* Addison
(colloquially with verbal noun as object) To be in need of; to require (something).
* 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 2
(dated) To be in a state of destitution; to be needy; to lack.
* Ben Jonson
* Alexander Pope
(countable) A desire, wish, longing.
(countable, often, followed by of) Lack, absence.
* , King Henry VI Part 2 , act 4, sc. 8:
* :
(uncountable) Poverty.
* Jonathan Swift
Something needed or desired; a thing of which the loss is felt.
* Paley
(UK, mining) A depression in coal strata, hollowed out before the subsequent deposition took place.
In transitive terms the difference between show and want
is that show is to guide or escort while want is to lack, not to have (something).In countable terms the difference between show and want
is that show is a movie while want is a desire, wish, longing.In uncountable terms the difference between show and want
is that show is mere display or pomp with no substance while want is poverty.As a proper noun Want is
a personification of want.show
English
Alternative forms
* shew (archaic)Verb
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.}}
- to show''' mercy; to '''show favour
Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?, passage=He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair.}}
- Just such she shows before a rising storm.
- All round a hedge upshoots, and shows / At distance like a little wood.
Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage='Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed .}}
- My lord of York, it better showed with you.
Usage notes
In the past, shew'' was used as a past tense form and ''shewed as a past participle of this verb; both forms are now archaic.Synonyms
* (display) display, indicate, point out, reveal, exhibit * (indicate a fact to be true) demonstrate, prove * (put in an appearance) arrive, show upAntonyms
* (display) conceal, cover up, hide * (indicate a fact to be true) disprove, refuteDerived terms
* show a clean pair of heels * show ankle * * show off * show one's true colors * show one's true stripes * show somebody the door * show upSee also
* showcase * showdownNoun
(en noun)Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show . He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.}}
- I envy none their pageantry and show .
- Let's get on with the show'''. Let's get this '''show''' on the road. They went on an international road '''show''' to sell the shares to investors. It was Apple's usual dog and pony ' show .
- (Raymond)
- Beware of the scribes,which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers.
- He through the midst unmarked, / In show plebeian angel militant / Of lowest order, passed.
Synonyms
* (exhibition) exhibition, exposition * (demonstration) demonstration, illustration, proof * program(me) * (mere display with no substance) , front, superficiality * (baseball) big leaguesDerived terms
* showbusiness, showbiz * show business * showlike * showy * talk showSee also
* showman * showpiece * show-stopper * show-stoppingStatistics
*want
English
Alternative forms
* waunt (obsolete)Verb
(en verb)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.}}
Geothermal Energy, volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
- The disposition, the manners, and the thoughts are all before it; where any of those are wanting' or imperfect, so much ' wants or is imperfect in the imitation of human life.
- he that hath skill to be a pilot wants' a ship; and he that could govern a commonwealth' wants means to exercise his worth, hath not a poor office to manage.
- Not what we wish, but what we want , / Oh, let thy grace supply!
- I observed that your whip wanted a lash to it.
- The mowing-machine always wanted oiling. Barnet turned it under Jacob's window, and it creaked—creaked, and rattled across the lawn and creaked again.
- You have a gift, sir (thank your education), / Will never let you want .
- For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find / What wants in blood and spirits, swelled with wind.
Usage notes
* This is a catenative verb. SeeSynonyms
* (desire) set one's heart on, wish for, would like * (lack) be without * (require) need, be in need ofDerived terms
* I want to know * want-away * wanted * want for * wanting *Noun
(poverty)- [H]eavens and honour be witness, that no want of resolution in me, but only my followers' base and ignominious treasons, makes me betake me to my heels.
- For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
- For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
- For want of a horse the rider was lost.
- For want of a rider the battle was lost.
- For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
- And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
- Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches, as to conceive how others can be in want .
- Habitual superfluities become actual wants .
