wishful thinking

wishful thinking

The act of thinking that or hoping that something will happen or be the case when in reality it is unlikely. Ugh, look at this traffic! I thought we would be on time today, but I guess that was just wishful thinking.
See also: thinking
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

wishful thinking

believing that something is true or that something will happen just because one wishes that it were true or would happen. Hoping for a car as a birthday present is just wishful thinking. Your parents can't afford it. Mary thinks that she is going to get a big raise, but that's wishful thinking. Her boss is so tight with money.
See also: thinking
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

wishful thinking

Interpreting matters as one would like them to be, as opposed to what they really are. For example, Matthew wanted to be a basketball player, but with his height that was wishful thinking. This term comes from Freudian psychology of the mid-1920s and soon began to be used more loosely.
See also: thinking
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

ˌwishful ˈthinking

the belief that something you want to happen is happening or will happen, although this is actually not true or is very unlikely: Prices seem to have stopped rising in the shops, or is that just wishful thinking on my part?
See also: thinking
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

wishful thinking

Interpreting events, facts, or words as one would like them to be as opposed to what they are; also, fantasizing as actual something that is not. This term comes from Freudian psychology of about 1925, but the idea is much older. “Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought,” wrote Shakespeare (Henry IV, Part 2, 4.5), an expression that practically became a proverb. The current cliché was used by F. H. Brennan (Memo to a Firing Squad, 1943): “We’re lousy with wishful thinkers.”
See also: thinking
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • back at it
  • back at it (again)
  • be on (one's) back
  • be on somebody's back
  • be on someone's back
  • back onto
  • back onto (something)
  • a thing
  • a whole thing
  • a fire extinguisher
References in periodicals archive
The main hypotheses were that a promised reward for accuracy and, independently, accuracy in the specific knowledge of the most recent poll results would reduce wishful thinking.
Wishful thinking among voters: motivational and cognitive influences
At least it has not allowed wishful thinking to play a big part in next yeareIUs budget, introducing a healthy dose of pragmatism.
Cyprus, the isle of wishful thinking
Caregivers who engaged in wishful thinking, avoidance, and self-blame tended to find their situations extremely burdensome.
Schizophrenia caregivers take health hit
Poe said Roque's 'wishful thinking is like saying that a homeowner may soon be thankful to a gang of fully armed men who unlawfully intruded into his place for sometime and made it their safe house, which in effect prevented other criminals from ransacking the same.'
Poe slams Roque's wishful thinking China will someday return PH reefs
Go West, aka Peter Cox and Richard Drummie, will be performing hits like We Close Our Eyes, Call Me and King of Wishful Thinking. They are also joined by Hue and Cry, of Labour of Love fame, and The Christians, best known for Harvest For The World.
GIGS OF THE WEEK
John Hood, owner of the Wishful Thinking card and decorations shop on Newport Road, Cardiff, said he had been "repeatedly fobbed off" by National Lottery officials in his quest to have a ticket machine installed in his store.
Shopkeeper desperate for lotto machine
The crisis has been weathered, and the downfall of the euro exposed as the Eurosceptic wishful thinking it always was.
Euro a safe bet; Yourview
The legendary British pop duo will tour the UK in celebration of their 25th Anniversary as GO WEST, best known for hits Call Me, Faithful and King Of Wishful Thinking. King Of Wishful Thinking appears on the hit movie Pretty Woman, which celebrates it's 20th anniversary this year.
WIN tickets to Go West and meet the band!
Call it wishful thinking if you want but both are entered in the July Cup.
MY WEEK
Liberal Democrat spokesman Don Foster said the figures showed the Government target of offering all pupils five hours of sport a week was "wishful thinking".
'Wishful thinking' on sport
I did feel a tautness in the skin and felt there could be improvement ( perhaps it was wishful thinking, perhaps it was a few early nights, perhaps it was that the price made me feel I should.
Tried and Tested
But a Blunkett spokesman hit back: 'I think this is a case of wishful thinking on Diane Abbott's part.' Blunkett has received the backing of the Prime Minister and many colleagues over the fallout from his affair with the married publisher of The Spectator magazine.
Underfire Blunkett: I'll go on
The novice SHP championship was taken by Katie Evans on Warleigh Wishful Thinking, with reserve Natasha Young on Party Time Reserve.
Show helps appeal's coffers; BSPS: Qualifier for the Winter Championship raises money for Noah's Ark charity
While some conservatives have sought a silver lining amid these educational clouds, that's largely wishful thinking. Consider who has been, in the words of the Washington Post, the "main negotiator with the White House of a compromise that led to the new education law," a lawmaker thanked by the president during his State of the Union address -- the quintessential left-winger, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).
Correction, Please!