I. ikˈspekt, ek- verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Latin expectare, exspectare to await, look forward to, from ex- ex- (I) + spectare to look at, from spectus, past participle of specere to look — more at spy
intransitive verb
1. obsolete : wait
a dog expects till his master has done picking of the bone — Henry More
2. : to look forward : look with anticipation
we love to expect , and when expectation is disappointed or gratified we want to be again expecting — Samuel Johnson
3. : to anticipate the birth of a child : be pregnant — used in progressive tenses
his wife is expecting
transitive verb
1. archaic
a. : to wait for : await
with what anxiety I expect your news of her health — P.B.Shelley
b. : to wait in order to see and know
expecting what should be the event thereof — Richard Knolles
c. : to be in store for
if any other fate expects me — Conyers Middleton
2. : suppose , think , believe
I expect that those Indians are on their way to war — Meriwether Lewis
3.
a. : to look for ; specifically : to anticipate the coming or receipt of
she had not expected the others and there was a great scurrying about to make coffee … for them — Louis Bromfield
b. : to look forward to ; specifically : to anticipate the occurrence of
she had spent the night expecting death in the morning, but then was told … that she was not to die till noon — Edith Sitwell
4.
a. : to consider probable or certain
he can never expect … that reason will ever hold in leash the emotions — Havelock Ellis
scurvy was to be expected in ships that had been long at sea — C.S.Forester
b. : to consider reasonable, just, proper, due, or necessary
he expected and demanded hard work of his students — M.H.Thomas
rich men … sometimes expect a deference which they refuse to claim — J.W.Krutch
c. : to consider (a person) obligated or in duty bound
England expects every man to do his duty — Horatio Nelson
a scholar … is expected to know the latest work on his own speciality — T.H.Savory
5. obsolete : demand , require
one assertion in it … expected greater evidence — Joseph Boyse
Synonyms:
expect , hope , hope ( for ), look ( to ), look ( for ), and await can mean, in common, to anticipate in the mind a thing or an event more or less likely or certain to occur. expect usually implies a high degree of certainty to the point of making preparations or anticipating particular things, actions, or feelings
an old three-story brick, nothing like what he had expected — Lenard Kaufman
Bainbridge's men could expect to be starved and cold and verminous, as indeed they were — C.S.Forester
we can expect to import only a fraction of the feeding stuffs formerly obtained from abroad — Laurence Easterbrook
a person of authority, who is awaited, expected, and now comes — Virginia Woolf
hope and hope ( for ) imply little certainty but suggest confidence and sometimes assurance that what one desires or longs for will happen
makes the reading of it as rewarding as anything short of real, bona fide firsthand experience can ever hope to be — H.C.Adamson
I could not remain a moment in the place, although he considerately hoped I would stay — Effie Gray
what I hope for and work for today is for a mess more favorable to artists than is the present one — E.M.Forster
a boy who showed intellectual promise was encouraged to hope for a college education — H.E.Scudder
look ( to ) implies a freedom from doubt that expectations will be fulfilled
look to help from the family in times of uncertainty
look to profit from an enterprise
look ( for ) implies less assurance and suggests an attitude of expectancy and watchfulness
look for trouble when the enemy begins to move his forces
look for snags that will almost inevitably occur in putting any theory into practice
await suggests a being in readiness for something expected or watched for; unlike the preceding words it may have as its subject the thing awaited and as its object the person awaiting
nothing for me to do but await their return — A.J.Broadwater
the punishment which awaits unrepented sin — R.A.Hall b. 1911
the fate that awaits a sovereign who would display talents and expert authority — A.M.Young
II. noun
( -s )
obsolete : expectation