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wishful thinking
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.
wishful thinking
thinking or talking about something that you would very much like to happen although you know it probably will not happen 'Do you think you might be in line for promotion, then? 'No, it's just wishful thinking.'
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.