1. Used to express desire or intent: She said she would meet us at the corner.

2. Used to express a wish. This sense is archaic (“I would you were so honest a man!”—William Shakespeare) except in contexts with an implicit first person singular subject and followed by a clause beginning with that: Would that it stop snowing!

3. Used after a statement of desire, request, or advice: I wish you would stay.

4. Used to make a polite request: Would you go with me?

5. Used in the main clause of a conditional statement to express a possibility or likelihood: If I had enough money, I would buy a car. We would have gone to the beach, had the weather been good. See Usage Note at if.

6. Used to express presumption or expectation: That would be Steve at the door.

7. Used to indicate uncertainty: He would seem to be getting better.

8. Used to express repeated or habitual action in the past: Every morning we would walk in the garden.