expect
Usage
What are other ways to say expect?
The verb expect implies confidently believing, usually for good reasons, that an event will occur: to expect a visit from a friend. To 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.
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.
Although the journey will take hundreds of millions of years, astronomers expect it to have a profound impact on the galaxy's future.
From Science Daily • Jun. 1, 2026
But the risk increases when those higher costs pass through to the broader economy and people begin to expect inflation to remain high.
From Salon • Jun. 1, 2026
That may not save Perry and his colleagues, said Curtis, who predicted that “they probably won’t run again—I think people fully expect those county commissioners will never be elected again.”
From Slate • Jun. 1, 2026
By 2100, the SSA projects a total fertility rate roughly 30% higher than both the Census Bureau and the CBO, which expect fertility to continue to decline.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 1, 2026
And in the next blank space, the verse Rowan had come to expect had appeared:
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
Vocabulary lists containing expect
"Eleven"
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List 5
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Think
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