wannabes

variants also wannabees
plural of wannabe
as in followers
a person who adopts the appearance or behavior of another especially in an obvious way an entrepreneur who seems to have made his fortune mainly by giving how-to-get-rich lectures to entrepreneurial wannabes

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of wannabes Kelly spends the first half of his book running through a who’s who of the New England underworld, gangsters and mob wannabes who likely came into contact with the art before the investigation reached Maine and Gentile. Edmund H. Mahony, Hartford Courant, 22 Mar. 2026 All the young, single Carolyn Bessette wannabes were vying for his attention. Richard Johnson, New York Daily News, 22 Mar. 2026 Plenty of Kennedy wannabes showed up too late to compete, like brothers Denny and Enny—models, actors, and content creators who are originally from Montenegro and now live in Williamsburg. Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 9 Mar. 2026 From the dealmakers in the Polo Lounge to the celebs hiding away in the spacious bungalows, all manner of tastemakers and wannabes have stopped by the Pink Palace at some time or another. Tim Chester, Robb Report, 5 Mar. 2026 The Dodgers’ split-squad group that journeyed the 14 miles from Glendale (and ultimately lost to Texas, 7-6) was largely a skeleton crew of Triple-A bound prospects and wannabes. Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas Morning News, 28 Feb. 2026 Other wannabes came with security. Shardaa Gray, CBS News, 21 Jan. 2026 This is not an attention-grabbing field of gubernatorial wannabes, to put it politely. George Skelton, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2026 Best Toy from a Film Franchise Dragon rider wannabees can put their dreams into motion by bonding and engaging with the ever-playful Toothless. Pamela Brill, Parents, 2 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wannabes
Noun
  • Ronaldo has 665 million followers on Instagram, more than any other human, twice as many as Taylor Swift (273 million) or more than Swift and Beyonce (300 million) combined.
    Scott M. Reid, Oc Register, 10 June 2026
  • To fair success, from the looks of her 60k+ followers.
    Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 9 June 2026
Noun
  • Their clothes inspired imitators.
    Simon Perry, PEOPLE, 9 June 2026
  • One of the more direct imitators of the SpaceX model is Blue Origin.
    David Szondy May 31, New Atlas, 31 May 2026
Noun
  • Let the anniversaries roll From America250 to Miles Davis, not to mention the echoes of Jazz Day and full summer at Ravinia, our critic’s picks in jazz and classical music for the coming season.
    Kayla Samoy, Chicago Tribune, 3 June 2026
  • Using money from depositors who had the right to withdraw their funds on demand to finance long-term, illiquid investments with an uncertain and distant payoff was a highly risky strategy—and one with echoes of what is currently creating turmoil among private credit funds today.
    Fortune, Fortune, 2 June 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Wannabes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wannabes. Accessed 12 Jun. 2026.

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