From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishwannabewan‧na‧be /ˈwɒnəbi $ ˈwɑː-/ noun [countable] informalWANT someone who tries to look or behave like someone famous or like a particular type of successful person, because they want to be like them – usually used to show disapproval → would-be a load of Michael Schumacher wannabes trying to show what they can do on the track wannabe pop stars
Examples from the Corpus
wannabe• The other nine wannabes will be offered parts in soaps such as Holby City and Casualty.• Kohler is a 17-year-old rapper wannabe from Montana.• See, all three wannabe rockers were, like, 11 years old.Origin wannabe (1900-2000) want to be 