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expectant

[ ik-spek-tuhnt ]
/ ɪkˈspɛk tənt /
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See synonyms for: expectant / expectantly on Thesaurus.com
adjective
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.
noun
a person who expects or who waits in expectation.
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Origin of expectant

1350–1400; Middle English <Latin expectant- (stem of expectāns), present participle of expectāre to expect; see -ant

OTHER WORDS FROM expectant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to expectant

alert, anticipative, anxious, apprehensive, awaiting, breathless, eager, expecting, hopeful, hoping, looking for, on edge, on tenterhooks, prepared, raring, ready, vigilant, waiting, watchful, with bated breath

How to use expectant in a sentence

  • Then, unexpectantly, the truant arrived, arrived proud and triumphant in the early morning before Hamilton was awake.

    Bones|Edgar Wallace

  • Tracy, out for an afternoon stroll, had come unexpectantly upon his family arms displayed upon this shabby house-front.

    The American Claimant|Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

  • Unexpectantly he picked up the sand-encrusted lump and brushed it off.

    The Fortieth Door|Mary Hastings Bradley

  • The women could see his empty coat-sleeve flutter as he walked slowly and unexpectantly in that glorious evening light.

    Strangers and Wayfarers|Sarah Orne Jewett

British Dictionary definitions for expectant

expectant
/ (ɪkˈspɛktənt) /
adjective
expecting, anticipating, or hopefulan expectant glance
having expectations, esp of possession of something or prosperity
pregnantan expectant mother
noun
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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