2. Grammar.
a. Of, relating to, or being a mood of verbs in some languages, such as Greek, used to express a wish.
b. Designating a statement using a verb in the subjunctive mood to indicate a wish or desire, as in Had I the means, I would do it.
"We lived deep in a land of optative moods,
under high, banked clouds of resignation."
--Seamus Heaney, "From the Canton of Expectation"