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Wish vs Interest - What's the difference?

wish | interest |

As nouns the difference between wish and interest

is that wish is a desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen while interest is the price paid for obtaining, or price received for providing, money or goods in a credit transaction, calculated as a fraction of the amount or value of what was borrowed.

As verbs the difference between wish and interest

is that wish is to desire; to want while interest is to engage the attention of; to awaken interest in; to excite emotion or passion in, in behalf of a person or thing.

wish

English

Noun

(es)
  • a desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen
  • an expression of such a desire etc.
  • the process of expressing or thinking about such a desire etc. (often connected with ideas of magic and supernatural power(s)
  • the thing desired or longed for
  • Your dearest wish will come true.
  • * 1901 , , (w, The Monkey's Paw)
  • "I suppose all old soldiers are the same," said Mrs White. "The idea of our listening to such nonsense! How could wishes be granted in these days? And if they could, how could two hundred pounds hurt you, father?" / "Might drop on his head from the sky," said the frivolous Herbert.
  • (Sussex) a water meadow.
  • Usage notes

    * Collocates with make for the common expression make a wish . See

    Derived terms

    (Terms derived from the noun "wish") * death wish * best wishes * good wishes * make a wish * wishbone * wishful * wish list/wishlist/wish-list * your wish is my command

    See also

    * precatory * velleity

    Verb

    (es)
  • (label) To desire; to want.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • I would not wish / Any companion in the world but you.
  • *
  • , passage=Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish', I ' wish he’d go away …}}
  • To hope (for a particular outcome).
  • * (John Arbuthnot) (1667-1735)
  • This is as good an argument as an antiquary could wish for.
  • * 1901 , , (w, The Monkey's Paw)
  • Mr. White took the paw from his pocket and eyed it dubiously. "I don't know what to wish for, and that's a fact," he said slowly. "It seems to me I've got all I want."
  • To bestow (a thought or gesture) towards (someone or something).
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • I would not wish them to a fairer death.
  • * Bible, (Psalms) xl. 14
  • Let them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish me evil.
  • To request or desire to do an activity.
  • * {{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.}}
  • (label) To recommend; to seek confidence or favour on behalf of.
  • * (Ben Jonson)
  • I was wished to your worship by a gentleman.

    Usage notes

    * In sense 3, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See

    Derived terms

    (Terms derived from the verb "wish") * as you wish * half wish * I wish * unwish * well-wisher * wisher * you wish

    interest

    English

    Alternative forms

    * enterest * (l) (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (label) A great attention and concern from someone or something; intellectual curiosity.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=10 , passage=The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.}}
  • * , chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”}}
  • (label) Attention that is given to or received from someone or something.
  • * , chapter=7
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=[…] St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Standing orders , passage=Over the past few years, however, interest has waxed again. A series of epidemiological studies, none big enough to be probative, but all pointing in the same direction, persuaded Emma Wilmot of the University of Leicester, in Britain, to carry out a meta-analysis. This is a technique that combines diverse studies in a statistically meaningful way.}}
  • (label) A business or amorous link or involvement.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author= Chico Harlan
  • , volume=189, issue=2, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Japan pockets the subsidy , passage=Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."}}
  • (label) Something one is interested in.
  • Injury, or compensation for injury; damages.
  • *, II.12:
  • How can this infinite beauty, power and goodnes admit any correspondencie or similitude with a thing so base and abject as we are, without extreme interest and manifest derogation from his divine greatnesse?
  • The persons interested in any particular business or measure, taken collectively.
  • Synonyms

    * (fraction of the amount or value of what was borrowed) cost of money

    Derived terms

    (Financial terms) * accrued interest * beneficial interest * capitalized interest * carried interest * compound interest * consumer interest * controlling interest * defered interest bond * earnings before interest and taxes * exact interest * imputed interest * indication of interest * insurable interest * interest-bearing * interest cover * interest expense * interest rate * interest-sensitive * minority interest * nominee interest * open interest * ordinary interest * pooling of interest * prepaid interest * security interest * short interest * simple interest * true interest cost * unearned interest (Non-financial terms) * by-interest * conflict of interest * future interest * human interest * interest group * legal interest * life interest * love interest * marine interest * place of interest * public interest * royalty interest * self-interest * special interest * terminable interest * undivided interest * vested interest * working interest

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To engage the attention of; to awaken interest in; to excite emotion or passion in, in behalf of a person or thing.
  • It might interest you to learn that others have already tried that approach.
    Action films don't really interest me.
  • To be concerned with or engaged in; to affect; to concern; to excite.
  • * Ford
  • Or rather, gracious sir, / Create me to this glory, since my cause / Doth interest this fair quarrel.
  • (obsolete) To cause or permit to share.
  • * Hooker
  • The mystical communion of all faithful men is such as maketh every one to be interested in those precious blessings which any one of them receiveth at God's hands.

    Antonyms

    * bore * disinterest

    Derived terms

    * interested * interesting

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

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