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奢望 (shē wàng) — extravagant hope; unrealistic expectation (noun); to have excessive expectations; to hope beyond reason (verb)

Definition

奢望 means hoping for something unrealistic or far beyond what is likely. It carries a negative judgment — unlike 期望 or 盼望, which are neutral hopes for something desired.

extravagant hopeunrealistic expectation (noun)to have excessive expectationsto hope beyond reason (verb)

Examples

  • 奢望，。
    Tā shē wàng néng kǎo shàng zuì hǎo de dà xué, dàn chéng jì chà le hěn duō.
    He hoped excessively to get into the best university, but his grades were far off.
  • ，奢望。
    Duì pǔ tōng rén lái shuō, mǎi bié shù zhǐ shì yì zhǒng yáo bù kě jí de shē wàng.
    For ordinary people, buying a villa is nothing but an unattainable dream.
  • 奢望，？
    Nǐ shē wàng suǒ yǒu rén dōu xǐ huan nǐ, zhè kě néng ma?
    You expect everyone to like you — is that possible?

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

奢shēextravagant
望wànghope

奢 gives extravagant and 望 gives hope, forming an unrealistic expectation.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 奢 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 臣臣chéneye
  • 𡈼𡈼𡈼person standing on the ground

望 originally showed 臣 (eye) beside 𡈼 (person standing on the ground): a person standing up and looking off into the distance. Later 月 was added, and the 臣 part became 亡.

Open 望 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Abstract ConceptsWill & Intention

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