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Wishful vs Fanciful - What's the difference?

wishful | fanciful |

As adjectives the difference between wishful and fanciful

is that wishful is wished-for; desired, wanted while fanciful is imaginative or fantastic; unreal or imagined.

wishful

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Wished-for; desired, wanted.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , V.9:
    • The cry whereof entring the hollow cave / Eftsoones brought forth the villaine, as they ment, / With hope of her some wishfull boot to have.
  • Expressing a wish or longing for something.
  • Aspiring, or seeking advancement.

    • Derived terms

    * wishful thinking

    fanciful

    English

    Alternative forms

    * fancifull * phanciful * phancifull

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • imaginative or fantastic; unreal or imagined

    • Derived terms

    * fancifully * fancifulness