释义 |
wannabe, n. and a. slang (orig. U.S.).|ˈwɒnəbɪ| Also wannabee. [Repr. colloq. pronunc. of ‘want to be’, f. wanna v. + be v.] A. n. = would-be n.; an admirer or fan who seeks to emulate a particular celebrity or type, esp. in matters of appearance or dress.
1981Newsweek 6 July 82/2 The flood tide of surfers first started building in the early '60s... Before long the beaches were jammed with hordes of novices known as wannabees (as in, ‘I wanna be a surfer’). 1985Los Angeles Times 28 July ii. 7/2 They call the white gangs ‘wannabes’, meaning someone who dresses and talks the part because he ‘wants to be’ a gang member, but is actually tame. 1986Washington Post 17 Jan. (Weekend section) 8/4 A morbid Madonna-wannabe fascinated with tabloid tales of bizarre deaths. 1987Outlaw Biker June 16/2 Any real biker would not have backed down the way they did. They showed the whole world what a bunch of wannabees they really are. 1987Sunday Times 16 Aug. 25/3 It was a bad time for the ‘wannabees’. For those who have never heard of them, they are..young women fans who wannabee like Madonna. 1990Independent 9 Apr. 15/2 Hughie Green and Bob Monkhouse handled their charges with tender loving care, soliciting information about family, hobbies and day-job, whose very unremarkability only emphasized the yawning chasm between the wannabees and their host. B. adj. Aspiring, would-be.
1986N.Y. Times 6 July i. 10/4 They want-to-be Indians... There are 1,500 Navajo Indians and the rest are Wannabee Indians. 1989Fortune Fall 106/1 Among the crowd that qualify as ‘wannabe’ newly industrialized countries, Thailand stands out for its comparative political stability and 10{pcnt} annual growth rate. 1990Sunday Times 21 Jan. g1/1 Word travels fast among the young literati and their wannabe friends. |