wait and see

Idioms  

1. Bide one's time for events to run their course, as in Do you think they'll raise taxes?—We'll have to wait and see. This expression was first recorded in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719): “We had no remedy but to wait and see.” In Britain the phrase became associated with Prime Minister H.H. Asquith, who in 1910 so often said it to the opposition regarding an impending bill that he became known as “Old Wait and See.”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wait and see

The team of scientists decides to wait and see what happens next.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

"Right now I'm traumatized. I've never been through anything like this before," said Fernandez, adding that he is going to "wait and see... if we can put the house back together again."

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

“We know God’s gonna come through, so let’s wait and see what he does,” she recalled telling her husband one day.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026

He said he wanted to wait and see what more he learned from the Epstein files before making his annual decision on giving in late June.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

Cabot grinned at this, leaned close to his father’s right ear, and told him to wait and see.

From "Where Things Come Back" by John Corey Whaley

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