What’s the difference between “hope” and “wish”?

What’s the difference between “hope” and “wish”?

“Hope” and “wish” might appear to mean the same thing. We use both words as verbs to talk about things we would like to happen or would like to have. But we usually use them in different ways from each other.

When we use “hope” we mostly think there’s quite a strong chance of something happening.

When we use “wish” we often know that there is very little chance of the thing happening.

Compare these examples:

• If we say: “I hope to become rich”, we are optimistic that one day we will become rich.
• If we say: “I wish I were rich”, we are more pessimistic – recognising that we are not rich and probably never will be.

• “I hope the sun will shine later” means that we are optimistic that the sun will shine later.
• “I wish the weather were better” probably means that we are pessimistic about the weather – it’s not good now and we think there is little chance of the sun coming out.

• “I hope to become a professional footballer” means that my aim is to become a professional footballer and I am optimistic that one day that will happen.
• “I wish I were a professional footballer” means that I’m not a professional footballer and am not likely to become one. Again, I am pessimistic about the chances.

“Hope” is usually an optimistic word and “wish” is often (but not always) pessimistic.

Note that we are optimistic if we believe that good things are going to happen, and pessimistic if we believe that good things are unlikely to happen.

There are occasions when we are not at all pessimistic when we use “wish”. It is very usual to say something like “I wish you a happy birthday” or “I wish you a very happy Christmas”. These are very common idioms and, on such occasions, “wish” and “hope” are synonyms. We can also say “I hope you have a happy birthday” or “I hope you have a very Christmas”.

Similar expressions include:

• I wish you great success in your examinations.
• I wish you a speedy recovery.

Be careful though. “I hope you feel better soon” has a very different meaning to “I wish you would get better soon”. The first sounds kind and caring but the second sounds as if we are very impatient with someone for feeling ill.

Another idiom including the word “wish” (this time as a noun” is “Your wish is my command”. This comes from ancient stories, such as Aladdin, and is used – often humorously – to mean that I will do anything you want me to do.

Another common idiom – again using “wish” as a noun and definitely being optimistic – is “wish list”. A wish list a list of things that someone would like to have or to happen. Two examples:

• A holiday in the South of France is definitely on our wish list.
• I can’t afford the latest iPhone at the moment but it’s on my wish list.

A very common expression is “best wishes” or “with best wishes”, often used at the end of a letter or email. We also say, for example, “best wishes for your birthday” or “with best wishes at Christmas” or “with best wishes for your upcoming celebrations”.

There are also some idioms using “hope”.

“To hope against hope” means to continue hoping even though there is little chance of success:

• I lost my phone last week but I’m hoping against hope that I’ll find it again”.

Similarly, “a fond hope” means a foolish hope for something that is more or less impossible:

• Even though his team was losing by three goals he clung to a fond hope that they would win.

“To pin one’s hopes on” something or someone means to rely on a single person or thing to make something happen:

• He was pinning all his hopes on this contract to save his business from going bankrupt.

“There’s always hope” means that even when things seem bad we can still find a reason to be optimistic:

• Don’t give up yet, there’s always hope.

Posted by Graham