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.
On a brilliant night under the lights in front of a jubilant and expectant crowd, England overcame their recent struggles in pressure matches in the biggest sign of improvement under coach Charlotte Edwards to date.
From BBC • Jul. 2, 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
To celebrate Mother’s Day, the Trump administration launched the website moms.gov, presenting it as an effort to provide resources for new and expectant mothers.
From Salon • May 17, 2026
Kimmel had told a joke last week about how Melania Trump had “a glow like an expectant widow.”
From Slate • May 2, 2026
He felt sad, and yet his sadness was incomplete; he felt expectant too, an excitement he did not entirely understand.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
