expectant
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.
a person who expects or who waits in expectation.
Origin of expectant
1Other words from expectant
- ex·pect·ant·ly, adverb
- half-ex·pect·ant, adjective
- half-ex·pect·ant·ly, adverb
- non·ex·pect·ant, adjective
- non·ex·pect·ant·ly, adverb
- o·ver·ex·pect·ant, adjective
- o·ver·ex·pect·ant·ly, adverb
- pre·ex·pect·ant, noun
- qua·si-ex·pect·ant, adjective
- qua·si-ex·pect·ant·ly, adverb
- un·ex·pect·ant, adjective
- un·ex·pect·ant·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use expectant in a sentence
In her book, Lockman describes how expectant fathers told researchers that they anticipated their wives would shoulder more of the new childcare responsibilities.
Over and over again, we heard a sense of optimism for the future — even if these expectant parents admitted it was, quite possibly, irrational.
What “baby bust”? New and soon-to-be parents on choosing to have kids in dark times | Chris Chafin | February 1, 2021 | VoxThe medical community is increasingly moving away from using the “vulnerable” label for pregnant people, but pharmaceutical companies must still take certain precautions when designing study protocols that include expectant mothers.
With Little Data to Guide Them, Pregnant Health Care Workers Are Stepping Up to Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19 | Jamie Ducharme | January 21, 2021 | TimeIts fans include Michelle Obama and Kate Middleton, as well as legions of professional women and expectant mothers.
Diane Von Furstenberg, rocked by pandemic, insists the jet-setting woman hasn’t gone away | Daniel Bentley | October 13, 2020 | FortuneInstead, it was as if the world had been waiting expectantly to hear him.
When TB Was a Death Sentence: An Excerpt From ‘The Remedy’ | Thomas Goetz | April 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The fashionable lady beside me was looking expectantly at Monseigneur C——.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the Show | Robert W. Chambers | February 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTStray goats and mules gazed expectantly up and down the track.
A Lost Hero | Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward and Herbert D. WardMr. Klick had emerged from cover and was standing expectantly with his hand on the cap.
The clerk had put them all up now and packed them into the basket and stood expectantly with the list checked off in his hand.
The Girls of Central High on the Stage | Gertrude W. MorrisonThe children watched him disappear around the curve and then turned to Jess expectantly.
The Box-Car Children | Gertrude Chandler WarnerExpectantly I follow his movements; I recognize the vigorous slam of the door and the click of the spring lock.
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander Berkman
British Dictionary definitions for expectant
/ (ɪkˈspɛktənt) /
expecting, anticipating, or hopeful: an expectant glance
having expectations, esp of possession of something or prosperity
pregnant: an expectant mother
a person who expects something
obsolete a candidate for office, esp for ecclesiastical preferment
Derived forms of expectant
- expectantly, adverb
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
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