expectancy
Americannoun
-
expectancies
plural
-
the quality or state of expecting; expectation; anticipatory belief or desire.
-
the state of being expected.
-
an object of expectation; something expected.
noun
-
something expected, esp on the basis of a norm or average
his life expectancy was 30 years
-
anticipation; expectation
-
the prospect of a future interest or possession, esp in property
an estate in expectancy
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of expectancy
From the Medieval Latin word ex(s)pectantia, dating back to 1590–1600. See expectant, -ancy
Explanation
Expectancy is the state of thinking (or hoping) that something will happen. You can sense the expectancy in the crowd just before your favorite band takes the stage. Use this word to talk about a sense of anticipation, like your little brother's expectancy every year on his birthday that someone will throw him a surprise party. It's also used to mean "an expected amount," especially in the context of life expectancy, or the average length of a person's life: "Typically, women have a longer life expectancy than men do." Expectancy is from expect, from a Latin root meaning "look for."
Vocabulary lists containing expectancy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Casey said that is a positive reflection of improvements in life expectancy but brings challenges which need "long-term planning and coordinated action".
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Surging yields in recent weeks have distorted other markets, extending the life expectancy of two other popular flavors of debt securities: mortgage bonds and Treasury futures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
When a call is overturned, Baseball Savant measures the difference in run expectancy between the situation before the pitch/challenge and the situation after the call is flipped.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Global life expectancy is close to the levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic, but the outlook for years lived in good health is recovering more slowly, the WHO said Friday.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
And once more there was silence; and the expectancy, momentarily relaxed, was stretched again, tauter, tauter, almost to the tearing point.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Although these populations tend to have some of the world's longest life expectancies, they also experience relatively high levels of frailty in old age.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
So life expectancies are rising again, that’s good news.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 13, 2026
Meanwhile, an annuity that starts paying out at age 67 would slightly favor those with lower balances and shorter life expectancies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2025
After the Great Depression, life expectancies increased alongside the percentage of older Americans living in poverty — by 1935, 50% of older adults were poor, and by 1940, almost two-thirds were poor.
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2025
He used these to calculate life expectancies for each age group, and to estimate the population of London, which he concluded was 460,000—not, as had been claimed, 7 million or so.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
