expectant
[ik-spek-tuh nt]
- having expectations; expecting: an excited, expectant audience.
- pregnant; expecting: an expectant mother.
- characterized by expectations: an expectant attitude.
- in expectation; expected; prospective: an expectant fortune.
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- a person who expects or who waits in expectation.
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Origin of expectant
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
alertanxiousapprehensiveawaitingbreathlesseagerexpectinghopefulhopingpreparedraringreadyvigilantwatchfulanticipativewaitingenceintepregnantgravidparturientExamples from the Web for expectant
Contemporary Examples
Those feelings are due, in part, to the notion that if an expectant mom is super vigilant, she can control her pregnancy.
By his own admission to reporters, Acevedo plowed into the cab carrying the expectant couple and then fled the scene.
Thankfully (or perhaps not, for some expectant theatergoers), the play steers clear of nudity and anything too explicit.
Expectant moms are advised to avoid alcohol, and dads often go along for the ride these days.
Picture that energized and expectant crowd in the March on Washington at the feet of Lincoln.
Historical Examples
His face had a patient, expectant look, as if he waited for them to do something.
Life and Death of Harriett FreanMay Sinclair
We hastened to mount, Clara's eyes full of expectant frolic.
Wilfrid CumbermedeGeorge MacDonald
At Length her heart's desire must be drawing near to her expectant soul!
Salted With FireGeorge MacDonald
It was opened very quickly, as if by some one who was on the watch, expectant of an arrival.
A Spirit in PrisonRobert Hichens
She did not speak, however, but only listened with her thoughtful and expectant air.
Doctor PascalEmile Zola
expectant
- expecting, anticipating, or hopefulan expectant glance
- having expectations, esp of possession of something or prosperity
- pregnantan expectant mother
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- a person who expects something
- obsolete a candidate for office, esp for ecclesiastical preferment
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for expectant
adj.
late 14c., from Old French expectant or directly from Latin expectantem/exspectantem (nominative expectans/exspectans), present participle of expectare/exspectare (see expect). Related: Expectantly. As a noun, from 1620s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
expectant
(ĭk-spĕk′tənt)- Pregnant.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.