Added 10 October 2026
wannabe
/ˈwɒnəbi/ noun
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about wannabe at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
Someone who wishes to be someone or do something, but lacks the qualifications or talent; an overeager amateur; an aspirant.
Hollywood's restaurants are full of wannabe actors waiting to be discovered.
- Someone who wishes to be part of, or to assimilate to, a majority group of which they are not a member.
Origin
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.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)