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Synonyms

in waiting

Idioms  

  1. In attendance, especially on a royal personage. For example, The prelates who were in waiting asked him to take the last rites. This usage has become less common with the diminution of royalty and royal courts but still survives. [Late 1600s]

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.

“For now, there is value in waiting and watching, with central banks stressing their commitment to price stability but otherwise staying on hold,” she said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

It is spoken in hospital corridors and courtrooms, in waiting rooms and at kitchen tables, by those who keep pressing, keep trying, keep hoping.

From Slate • Mar. 29, 2026

As he spoke in the Oval Office on Monday, Vice President JD Vance hovered uncomfortably behind Trump’s left shoulder like a cartoon buzzard in waiting.

From Salon • Mar. 20, 2026

Phil will be without a music director, and with no one in waiting in the wings.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2026

Then his father would not have been away at the wars, or his mother in waiting upon the Queen.

From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli

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.