Dictionary

wannabe en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /ˈwɒnəbi/

Etymology

Written form of a reduction of want to be, analyzable as wanna + be. Wannabe can be considered a conversion, category change, or functional shift. While occasionally appearing in print, usually as a less reduced phrase, the popularity of the word took off in the mid-1980s following the Madonna wannabe fashion trend: “wannabe”, in Google Books Ngram Viewer.

Meanings

1. (attributive, derogatory, informal, often) Someone who wishes to be someone or do something, but lacks the qualifications or talent; an overeager amateur; an aspirant.
   • He had the reputation of a wannabe hardman, riding his cousin's coattails. 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 251:
   • Hollywood's restaurants are full of wannabe actors waiting to be discovered.
   • Who the hell is that woman messing in my files? GET HER OUT OF HERE! I won't have my system messed up by some wannabe "expert" who'll be gone next week! Damn strangers who think they know it all but don't care about what we're really trying to achieve here. 2012, BioWare, quoting Sho D'hen, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Mars:
   • Most of the people Hiro knows are will-bes or wannabes. 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 61:
2. (derogatory, informal) Someone who wishes to be part of, or to assimilate to, a majority group of which they are not a member.
   • Bigger, mongrelly and black, he was clearly a Doberman wannabe. 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 126:

Forms

Coordinates

suck-up · sellout · bootlicker · poseur

Deriveds

wannarexia · Madonnabe · wankster · wannime · wannabeism · wanksta · wannarexic · wapanese

Relateds

would-be · never-was · has-been · -to-be · gonnabe

Synonyms

tryhard

Translations (23)

de Möchtegern (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · aeb زَعْمَة زَعْمَة (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · pl pozerka (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · tr özenti (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · sv wannabe (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · nl wannabe (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · ar مُتَظَاهِرٌ (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · ja ワナビー (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · es wannabi (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · es wanabí (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · es guanabí (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · pl pozer (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · fi matkija (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · ja ワナビ (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · cs rádoby (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · es wanabi (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · fr wannabe (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · hu önjelölt (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · pt metido (a) (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · es un quiero y no puedo (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · ja もどき (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · ar طَمُوحٌ (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications) · no wannabe (someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications)

wikipedia: functional shift