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.
While that doesn’t seem like an entirely hopeful vision to wrap up a sequel, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” blends its pragmatism with a healthy amount of optimism, too.
From Salon • May 6, 2026
Still, some researchers in Kyiv are hopeful that the Butyagin case will give their Russian counterparts pause.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 3, 2026
Tougher whisky tariffs were scheduled to be brought in by the US this summer and it's not clear if these have now been scrapped, although the industry is hopeful.
From BBC • May 1, 2026
There are six hopefuls vying to replace Price, including one of his longtime aides, a candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists of America and a hopeful supported by Mayor Karen Bass.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026
She shooed away a hopeful rooster and it flapped back with a squawk.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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.
