expect

[ ik-spekt ]

/ ɪkˈspɛkt /

|||

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.

Nearby words

expansivity, expat, expatiate, expatriate, expatriation, expect, expectancy, expectant, expectation, expectation of life, expectation sunday

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

SYNONYMS FOR expect

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.

Related forms

ex·pect·a·ble, adjectiveex·pect·a·bly, adverbex·pect·ed·ly, adverbex·pect·ed·ness, noun

ex·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

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

Examples from the Web for unexpecting

The only thing I liked at first to do was to trace with slow and unexpecting step the narrow margin of the lake.
At Home And Abroad|Margaret Fuller Ossoli
There was I know not what of stealthy joy about her thus creeping in to the unexpecting land.
The Complete Essays of John Galsworthy|John Galsworthy
The only thing I liked at first to do, was to trace with slow and unexpecting step the narrow margin of the lake.
Summer on the Lakes, in 1843|S.M. Fuller
Unexpecting Dakota Joe's act, Wonota was not prepared for her mount's jump.
Ruth Fielding in the Great Northwest|Alice B. Emerson

I am impressed by the fact that they are an unexpecting people.
The Shuttle|Frances Hodgson Burnett

British Dictionary definitions for unexpecting

expect

/ (ɪkˈspɛkt) /

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 unexpecting

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 unexpecting

expect

see when least expected.