expectant
Americanadjective
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having expectations; expecting.
an excited, expectant audience.
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pregnant; expecting.
an expectant mother.
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characterized by expectations.
an expectant attitude.
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in expectation; expected; prospective.
an expectant fortune.
noun
adjective
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expecting, anticipating, or hopeful
an expectant glance
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having expectations, esp of possession of something or prosperity
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pregnant
an expectant mother
noun
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a person who expects something
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obsolete a candidate for office, esp for ecclesiastical preferment
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of expectant
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin expectant- (stem of expectāns ), present participle of expectāre to expect; see -ant
Explanation
If you're expectant, you're waiting excitedly for something. A throng of expectant fans might wait outside a concert venue, hoping for a glimpse of the band arriving. When someone's expectant, they are anticipating something good, eagerly awaiting it. When you're hoping for a call, your expectant glance might land on your cell phone every five minutes, and if you're especially hungry for lunch, you might keep an expectant eye on the clock during math class. Because pregnant women tend to be excitedly waiting for a baby to be born, they're also commonly described as expectant.
Vocabulary lists containing expectant
The Lemonade War
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Amina's Voice
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Salt to the Sea
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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.
“Are you guys drinking NA beers?” one Reddit poster asked in a forum for expectant mothers and hopeful parents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Their relationship with Max is also much more personal: Anna was Max’s pregnant lawyer in the trial where Max stood accused of killing his expectant wife, while Tom was the prosecutor.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
Many parents Rigby meets are skeptical of the accounts, while expectant parents whose newborns will qualify for the $1,000 are excited about them.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Batches of limited stock sales will be allowed in the coming months, however, and some real estate agents and bankers are putting together workarounds to help expectant millionaires leverage their future gains to secure loans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
“I don’t know how many expectant mothers we’ll have. I have a couple of nurses and one medical orderly. I’ll need you to help the wounded soldiers in the other ward as well,” he said.
From "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys
Definitions 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.
