A mood (as in Greek or Sanskrit) that expresses a wish or hope

• Expressing desire, top kinky musical making a comeback
• Expressed in English by modal verbs

The Collaborative International Dictionary Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Optative \Op"ta*tive\, n. [Cf. F. optatif.] Something to be desired. [R.] --Bacon. (Gram.) The optative mood; also, a verb in the optative mood.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
in reference to grammatical mood expressing wish or desire, 1520s, from Middle French optatif (15c.), from Late Latin optativus , from Latin optatus "wished, desired, longed for," past participle of optare "to choose, wish, desire" (see option ).

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
a. 1 expressing a wish or a choice. 2 (context grammar English) related or pertaining to the optative mood. n. 1 (context grammar English) a mood of verb found in some languages (e.g. Old Prussian, Ancient Greek), used to express a wish. English has no ...

Wikipedia Word definitions in Wikipedia
The optative mood, from Ancient Greek "(inflection) for wishing" and Latin "(way) of wishing", is a grammatical mood of the Ancient Greek verb , named for its use as a way to express wishes. It is also used to express potentiality and to replace other moods ...

WordNet Word definitions in WordNet
adj. indicating an option or wish relating to a mood of verbs in some languages; "optative verb endings"