supposed to
Idioms-
Intended to; also, believed to, expected to. For example, This pill is supposed to relieve your pain , or You're supposed to be my partner . [Early 1300s]
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Required to, as in He is supposed to call home . [Mid-1800s]
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not supposed to . Not permitted to, as in You're not supposed to smoke in here .
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.
There was supposed to be more champagne, a trophy to raise, and the first World Series three-peat by a National League team to jot down in the history books.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
The dot plot reveals individual Fed officials’ interest-rate outlooks, but it was only the first draft of a project that was supposed to evolve into something more informative and better.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
"What am I supposed to make of this? We're going to war," Irinkov told AFP as he trimmed the plants in his garden on a windy day.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
“Are we all just racing to the bottom? What are we supposed to do?,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
It felt like it was supposed to stay legendary and invisible unless your bones resonated with the same songs.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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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.
