wannabe

noun

wan·​na·​be ˈwä-nə-ˌbē 

variants or less commonly wannabee

1

: a person who wants or aspires to be someone or something else or who tries to look or act like someone else

2

: something (such as a company, city, or product) intended to rival another of its kind that has been successful

especially : one for which hopes have failed or are likely to fail

Synonyms

• aper
• copycat
• copyist
• echo
• follower
• imitator
• rubber stamp

Examples of wannabe in a Sentence

an entrepreneur who seems to have made his fortune mainly by giving how-to-get-rich lectures to entrepreneurial wannabes

Recent Examples on the Web

Call it a banana republic run by dictator wannabes. —Linda Robertson, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2025

The Franchise could have an exercise in spot-the-Kevin-Feige for industry wannabes. —Dominic Patten, Deadline, 30 Dec. 2024

The top secret agent of CONTROL is a role model for clumsy wannabe Steve Carell, though by the end, Agent 23 is the one throwing an explosive situation into total KAOS. 15. —Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 27 Nov. 2024

The venue, a downtown Manhattan club on a side street thronged with everyone from movie stars to wannabes hoping to gain entry to the party that was still raging at 3 a.m., had been at capacity since midnight. —Amy Dubois Barnett, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

from the phrase want to be

First Known Use

1976, in the meaning defined at sense 1