I. hope ‧ ful 1 /ˈhəʊpf ə l $ ˈhoʊp-/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ hope , ↑ hopefulness ≠ ↑ hopelessness , ↑ hopeful ; verb : ↑ hope ; adverb : ↑ hopefully ≠ ↑ hopelessly ; adjective : ↑ hopeful ≠ ↑ hopeless ]
1 . believing that what you hope for is likely to happen SYN optimistic
hopeful about
Everyone’s feeling pretty hopeful about the future.
hopeful (that)
I’m hopeful that we can find a solution.
be hopeful of (doing) something British English :
He is still hopeful of playing in Saturday’s game.
2 . making you feel that what you hope for is likely to happen SYN promising :
The vote is a hopeful sign that attitudes in the church are changing.
Things might get better, but it doesn’t look very hopeful right now.
—hopefulness noun [uncountable]
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THESAURUS
▪ optimistic believing that good things will happen:
I’m optimistic about our chances of winning.
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an optimistic view of the future
▪ hopeful believing that what you hope for will happen:
The test results made him feel more hopeful about his chances of recovery.
▪ positive thinking about what is good in a situation, rather than what is bad:
Try to be more positive about your work.
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She has a very positive attitude to life.
▪ upbeat having a cheerful attitude and showing that you expect to succeed, or that a situation will get better, especially the economic or political situation:
The Prime Minister was upbeat, predicting that the economy would soon come out of recession.
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an upbeat message about the party’s chances of winning the election
▪ bullish feeling confident about the future – used especially when talking the economic situation, or a company’s chances of success:
He’s very bullish about the company’s prospects.
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Stockmarket analysts expect the bullish trend to continue.
▪ sanguine formal hopeful and not worried about what will happen in the future, especially when the situation seems difficult – a very formal use:
Koons himself somehow remains sanguine in the face of all the criticism.
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Other commentators are less sanguine, and fear that the world economy is on the verge of recession.
▪ rosy if the future or your life seems rosy, it seems good and you expect good things to happen:
The future looks rosy for the team.
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Returning soldiers found life less rosy than they had hoped.
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The price of oil keeps going up, and things look pretty rosy for the big oil companies.
▪ look on the bright side to consider the good parts of a situation, which seems bad in many other ways – used especially when telling someone that they should do this:
Look on the bright side – it could have been a lot worse.
II. hopeful 2 BrE AmE noun [countable] written
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ hope , ↑ hopefulness ≠ ↑ hopelessness , ↑ hopeful ; verb : ↑ hope ; adverb : ↑ hopefully ≠ ↑ hopelessly ; adjective : ↑ hopeful ≠ ↑ hopeless ]
someone who is hoping to be successful, especially in acting, sports, politics etc:
Thousands of young hopefuls were auditioned for the role.
Republican presidential hopefuls