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Want vs Offer - What's the difference?

want | offer |

In transitive terms the difference between want and offer

is that want is to lack, not to have (something) while offer is to put in opposition to; to manifest in an offensive way; to threaten.

As a proper noun Want

is a personification of want.

want

English

Alternative forms

* waunt (obsolete)

Verb

(en verb)
  • To wish for or to desire (something).
  • * , chapter=13
  • , title= 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.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= 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.}}
  • * Dryden
  • 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.
  • To lack, not to have (something).
  • *, II.3.7:
  • 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.
  • * James Merrick
  • Not what we wish, but what we want , / Oh, let thy grace supply!
  • * Addison
  • I observed that your whip wanted a lash to it.
  • (colloquially with verbal noun as object) To be in need of; to require (something).
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 2
  • 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.
  • (dated) To be in a state of destitution; to be needy; to lack.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • You have a gift, sir (thank your education), / Will never let you want .
  • * Alexander Pope
  • 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. See

    Synonyms

    * (desire) set one's heart on, wish for, would like * (lack) be without * (require) need, be in need of

    Derived terms

    * I want to know * want-away * wanted * want for * wanting *

    Noun

    (poverty)
  • (countable) A desire, wish, longing.
  • (countable, often, followed by of) Lack, absence.
  • * , King Henry VI Part 2 , act 4, sc. 8:
  • [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.
  • (uncountable) Poverty.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches, as to conceive how others can be in want .
  • Something needed or desired; a thing of which the loss is felt.
  • * Paley
  • Habitual superfluities become actual wants .
  • (UK, mining) A depression in coal strata, hollowed out before the subsequent deposition took place.
  • Derived terms

    * want ad

    References

    Statistics

    *

    offer

    English

    (wikipedia offer)

    Alternative forms

    * offre (obsolete)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) offer, from (etyl) . See verb below.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A proposal that has been made.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.}}
  • Something put forth, bid, proffered or tendered.
  • (label) An invitation to enter into a binding contract communicated to another party which contains terms sufficiently definite to create an enforceable contract if the other party accepts the invitation.
  • Derived terms
    * make an offer

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) offren, offrien, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (lb) To present (something) to God as a gesture of worship, or for a sacrifice.
  • *Bible, (w) xxix. 36
  • *:Thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement.
  • (lb) To place (something) in a position where it can be added to an existing mechanical assembly.
  • *2009 , Roger Williams, Triumph Tr2, 3, 3a, 4 & 4a
  • *:The next stage is to remove and replace the top part of the right side lip, and offer the lid to the car to ensure all the shapes and gaps are okay.
  • (lb) To propose or express one's willingness (to do something).
  • :
  • (lb) To present in words; to proffer; to make a proposal of; to suggest.
  • :
  • (lb) To place at someone’s disposal; to present (something) to be either accepted or turned down.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic
  • (lb) To bid, as a price, reward, or wages.
  • :
  • (lb) To happen, to present itself.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:The occasion offers , and the youth complies.
  • *1749 , (John Cleland), (w) , Penguin 1985, p.64:
  • *:The opportunity, however, did not offer till next morning, for Phoebe did not come to bed till long after I was gone to sleep.
  • (lb) To make an attempt; used with at .
  • *(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • *:I will not offer at that I cannot master.
  • *(w, Roger L'Estrange) (1616-1704)
  • *:He would be offering at the shepherd's voice.
  • *(Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
  • *:without offering at any other remedy
  • (lb) To put in opposition to; to manifest in an offensive way; to threaten.
  • :
  • Usage notes
    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to -infinitive. See

    Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (used in combinations from phrasal verbs) agent noun of off
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=2003 , author=James-Jason Gantt , title=Losing Summer , chapter= citation , isbn=t0595297498 9780595297498 , page=146 , passage=Once you finally discover yourself a dismember-er, a de-limber, a fucking head-cutter-offer , the most simple of tasks — enjoying a long walk outside, seeing a movie, conversing with a stranger in the library — all become prized and over-inflated moments of elation.}}

    Statistics

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