adjective
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having or expressing hope
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giving or inspiring hope; promising
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hopeful
Explanation
If you're hopeful about something, you're optimistic. You think it's going to turn out OK. Your team has been doing well in practice, so you're hopeful that you'll win the finals. Hopeful comes from the word hope, meaning "optimism about a future event," and the suffix -ful, meaning "full." So if you're hopeful, you're full of hope: you think something good is going to happen. You might be hopeful that you'll be offered a job after your great interview. Used as a noun, hopeful can describe a promising person who wants to succeed at a particular goal. The charismatic young politician is a hopeful for the next election.
Vocabulary lists containing hopeful
The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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Emotions on Display
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In the Mood? 100 Words to Describe Emotions
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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.
Bessent said he is hopeful that oil prices would drop quickly once an agreement is signed.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026
However, the oil market still suggests traders are hopeful —or even confident—that a peace agreement may yet materialize.
From Barron's • May 27, 2026
"Now we have established this systematic behavior exists, we can go back further in time. It's going to be more challenging, but I'm hopeful that this will be a key step in predicting mineral occurrences."
From Science Daily • May 26, 2026
Albright’s return is part of the early stage of a hopeful trend in not just northeast Ohio, but throughout the Midwest.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2026
I've learned not to take too deep a whijf when mucking out the barn, but most of the smells are good, wonderful, and hopeful, if smells can be such a thing.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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.
