expect

[ik-spekt]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR expect ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to look forward to; regard as likely to happen; anticipate the occurrence or the coming of: I expect to read it. I expect him later. She expects that they will come.

to look for with reason or justification: We expect obedience.

Informal. to suppose or surmise; guess: I expect that you are tired from the trip.

to anticipate the birth of (one's child): Paul and Sylvia expect their second very soon.

Idioms

be expecting, to be pregnant: The cat is expecting again.

Origin of expect

1550–60; < Latin ex(s)pectāre to look out for, await, equivalent to ex- ex-¹ + spectāre to look at, frequentative of specere; see spectacle

Related formsex·pect·a·ble, adjectiveex·pect·a·bly, adverbex·pect·ed·ly, adverbex·pect·ed·ness, nounex·pect·er, nounex·pect·ing·ly, adverbo·ver·ex·pect, verbpre·ex·pect, verb (used with object)un·ex·pect·a·ble, adjectiveun·ex·pect·a·bly, adverbun·ex·pect·ing, adjectiveun·ex·pect·ing·ly, adverb

Synonyms for expect

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR expect ON THESAURUS.COM

1. Expect, anticipate, hope, await all imply looking to some future event. Expect implies confidently believing, usually for good reasons, that an event will occur: to expect a visit from a friend. Anticipate is to look forward to an event and even to picture it: Do you anticipate trouble? Hope implies a wish that an event may take place and an expectation that it will: to hope for the best. Await ( wait for ) implies being alert and ready, whether for good or evil: to await news after a cyclone.

Usage note

3. This sense of expect ( I expect you went with them. I expect you want to leave now. ) is encountered in the speech of educated people but seldom in their writing.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for expectedly

conceivably, expectedly, feasibly

Examples from the Web for expectedly

Contemporary Examples of expectedly

The whole altercation is fairly adorable and the Internet is expectedly obsessed with it.
An Old People’s Guide to Jay-Z
Kevin Fallon
December 5, 2012

Historical Examples of expectedly

Here in this rich alluvial plain population might, expectedly, be dense at a very early period.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, March 1899
Various

British Dictionary definitions for expectedly

expect

verb (tr; may take a clause as object or an infinitive)

to regard as probable or likely; anticipatehe expects to win

to look forward to or be waiting forwe expect good news today

to decide that (something) is requisite or necessary; requirethe boss expects us to work late today

Word Origin for expect

C16: from Latin exspectāre to watch for, from spectāre to look at

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 expectedly

expect

1550s, "wait, defer action," from Latin expectare/exspectare "await, look out for, desire, hope," from ex- "thoroughly" (see ex-) + spectare "to look," frequentative of specere "to look at" (see scope (n.1)).

Figurative sense of "anticipate, look forward to" developed in Latin, attested in English from c.1600. Used since 1817 as a euphemism for "be pregnant." Related: Expected; expecting.

Idioms and Phrases with expectedly

expect

see when least expected.