What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Want vs Thick - What's the difference?

want | thick |

As a proper noun want

is a personification of want.

As an adjective thick is

relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension.

As an adverb thick is

in a thick manner.

As a noun thick is

the thickest, or most active or intense, part of something.

As a verb thick is

(archaic|transitive) to thicken.

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

    *

    thick

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].}}
  • Measuring a certain number of units in this dimension.
  • Heavy in build; thickset.
  • * 2007 , James T. Knight, Queen of the Hustle
  • As she twirled around in front of the mirror admiring how the dress showed off her thick booty, she felt like a princess in a children's storybook.
  • Densely crowded or packed.
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}
  • Having a viscous consistency.
  • Abounding in number.
  • Impenetrable to sight.
  • Difficult to understand, or poorly articulated.
  • (informal) Stupid.
  • (informal) Friendly or intimate.
  • * T. Hughes
  • We have been thick ever since.
  • Deep, intense, or profound.
  • * Shakespeare
  • thick sleep

    Synonyms

    * (relatively great in extent from one surface to another) broad * (measuring a certain number of units in this dimension) * (heavy in build) chunky, solid, stocky, thickset * (densely crowded or packed) crowded, dense, packed * (having a viscous consistency) glutinous, viscous * (abounding in number) overflowing, swarming, teeming * (impenetrable to sight) dense, opaque, solid * (sense) unclear * dense, dumb (informal), stupid, thick as pigshit (taboo slang), thick as two short planks (slang) * (sense) chummy (qualifier), close, close-knit, friendly, pally (informal), intimate, tight-knit * great, extreme * See also

    Antonyms

    * (relatively great in extent from one surface to another) slim, thin * (heavy in build) slender, slight, slim, svelte, thin * (densely crowded or packed) sparse * (having a viscous consistency) free-flowing, runny * (abounding in number) * (impenetrable to sight) thin, transparent * (sense) clear, lucid * brainy (informal), intelligent, smart * (sense) unacquainted

    Derived terms

    * blood is thicker than water * thick and thin * thick as a brick * thick as a plank * thick as thieves * thick as two short planks * thicket * thickhead * thickish * thickly * thicko * thickness * thickset * thick-skinned * thick-un * thicky

    Adverb

    (er)
  • In a thick manner.
  • Snow lay thick on the ground.
  • Thickly.
  • Bread should be sliced thick to make toast.
  • Frequently; in great numbers.
  • The arrows flew thick and fast around us.

    Noun

    (-)
  • The thickest, or most active or intense, part of something.
  • It was mayhem in the thick of battle.
  • * Dryden
  • He through a little window cast his sight / Through thick of bars, that gave a scanty light.
  • A thicket.
  • * Drayton
  • gloomy thicks
  • * Spenser
  • Through the thick they heard one rudely rush.
  • A stupid person; a fool.
  • * 2014 , Joseph O'Connor, The Thrill of It All (page 100)
  • If there was doctorates in bollocksology and scratching yourself in bed, the two of you'd be professors by now. Pair of loafing, idle thicks .

    Derived terms

    * in the thick of * through thick and thin

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (archaic) To thicken.
  • The nightmare Life-in-death was she, / Who thicks man's blood with cold. — Coleridge.
    1000 English basic words