expect
English edit
Etymology edit
From Latin expectāre, infinitive form of exspectō (“look out for, await, expect”), from ex (“out”) + spectō (“look at”), frequentative of speciō (“see”).
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
expect (third-person singular simple present expects, present participle expecting, simple past and past participle expected)
- (transitive, intransitive) To predict or believe that something will happen
- Synonyms: anticipate, hope, look for
- I expect to be able to walk again after getting over my broken leg.
- He never expected to be discovered.
- We ended up waiting a little longer than we had expected
- The doctor said he expected me to make a full recovery.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- “ […] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.
- 2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns[1]:
- And temperatures are expected to keep rising.
- To consider obligatory or required.
- 1805, Nelson, Horatio via Pasco, John, signal sent at the Battle of Trafalgar:
- England expects that every man will do his duty.
- 2015, Sajith Buvi, I Am 7.5 Billion Human, page 49:
- I was born and immediately thrown into a society that makes its own rules, standards, and expectations. I am expected to behave. I am expected to deliver. I am expected to live up to the contrived standards of the society.
- 1805, Nelson, Horatio via Pasco, John, signal sent at the Battle of Trafalgar:
- To consider reasonably due.
- (continuous aspect only, of a woman or couple) To be pregnant, to consider a baby due.
- 2011, Eva Fischer-Dixon, The Bestseller:
- “You are pregnant?” he asked with shock in his voice. “Yes, Justin, I am expecting a child,”
- (obsolete, transitive) To wait for; to await.
- Synonyms: await; see also Thesaurus:wait for
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
- Let's in, and there expect their coming.
- 1825, Walter Scott, The Talisman, A. and C. Black (1868), 24-25:
- The knight fixed his eyes on the opening with breathless anxiety, and continuing to kneel in the attitude of devotion which the place and scene required, expected the consequence of these preparations.
- (obsolete, intransitive) To wait; to stay.
- Synonym: wait
- 1636, G[eorge] S[andys], “(please specify the page)”, in A Paraphrase upon the Psalmes of David. And upon the Hymnes Dispersed throughout the Old and New Testaments, London: [Andrew Hebb […]], →OCLC:
- I will 'expect until my change in death, / And answer at Thy call
Usage notes edit
- This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Derived terms edit
Derived terms
- expect the unexpected
- expected adjective
- expecting adjective
- half-expect
- unexpected
Related terms edit
Related terms
Translations edit
to look for, look forward to, anticipate
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to consider obligatory
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to consider reasonably due
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Further reading edit
- “expect”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “expect”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “expect”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.