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Discover LudwigThe phrase "a mere wish" is correct and usable in written English
It can be used to express that something is only a desire or hope without any substantial basis or likelihood of happening. Example: "His dream of becoming a famous actor was nothing more than a mere wish, as he had no experience or connections in the industry."
Exact(3)
But Ms. Otero also suggested that it had helped that Ms. Hu had come in with more than a mere wish to have a business.
Technology enthusiasts and corporate giants want us to believe that their vision of the future is not a mere wish but a foretelling.
Because the key factor differentiating a goal from a mere wish is whether or not people develop a plan to achieve it, action planning is also an important component of the intervention.
Similar(55)
From a grievance, or the desire to do harm, or the mere wish to watch a spectacular event, one of them would probably have set it aflame, and no one would do very much to help put it out.
Tolkien's world may not be the same as our own, Auden wrote in a 1956 review of the author's work for the New York Times, but it's a world "of intelligible law, not mere wish," that represents our own reality.
Unlike mere "wish", if it is to persist and prevail then a popular will must remain united in the face of its opponents, and find ways of overcoming their resistance to its aims.
Julien, like Chester and Rydal, appears to behave as he chooses, yet something deep in the natures of such men — the itch of recklessness, the gluttonous demands of wallet and loins, the mere wish to learn more — hurries them along their fateful paths.
In line with Islamic orthodoxy, Tantawi said surgery was permissible "in order to reveal what was hidden of male or female organs" but added that surgery was not permissible "at the mere wish to change sex from woman to man, or vice versa".
Lewis's most recurrent and central point is akin to Bob Dylan's "You Gotta Serve Somebody": When we interact with others, we all appeal to some foundational authority we believe is true outside of our mere wish for it to be true, and we usually expect others will defer to that authority.
The trick is to distinguish a sense of the odds from mere wishes.
The most promising approach for justifying a priority threshold can be seen in relying upon the distinction between needs and (mere) wishes.
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Since I tried Ludwig back in 2017, I have been constantly using it in both editing and translation. Ever since, I suggest it to my translators at ProSciEditing.

Justyna Jupowicz-Kozak
CEO of Professional Science Editing for Scientists @ prosciediting.com