Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To wish for a particular event that one considers possible.
- intransitive verb Archaic To have confidence; trust.
- intransitive verb To desire and consider possible: synonym: expect.
- noun The longing or desire for something accompanied by the belief in the possibility of its occurrence.
- noun An instance of such longing or desire.
- noun A source of or reason for such longing or desire.
- noun Christianity The theological virtue defined as the desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible to attain with God's help.
- noun Archaic Trust; confidence.
- idiom (hope against hope) To hope with little reason or justification.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An inlet; a small bay; a haven.
- To entertain or indulge an expectation of something desired.
- To have confidence; trust with earnest expectation of good.
- To desire with expectation; look forward to as desirable, with the expectation of obtaining: with a clause (with or without that) or, less commonly, a noun as object.
- [Hope is also loosely used as synonymous with desire, long for, or wish.]
- To expect; regard as likely to happen: not implying desire: with a clause as object.
- To imagine; have an impression; think: with an effect of irony: as, I hope I know what I am talking about.
- noun A hollow; a valley; especially, the upper end of a narrow mountain valley when it is nearly encircled by smooth green slopes: nearly equivalent to comb.
- noun A mound; a hill. [Prov. Eng.] This word occurs in several place-names, as Easthope, Kirkhope, Stanhope, etc.
- noun Expectation of something desired; desire accompanied by expectation.
- noun Confidence in a future event, or in the future disposition or conduct of some person; trust, especially a high or holy trust.
- noun That which gives hope; one who or that which furnishes ground of expectation or promise of desired good; promise.
- noun The object of hope; the thing hoped for.
- noun Expectation, without reference to desire; prognostication.
- noun Synonyms Reliance, dependence.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A sloping plain between mountain ridges.
- noun Scot. A small bay; an inlet; a haven.
- transitive verb To desire with expectation or with belief in the possibility or prospect of obtaining; to look forward to as a thing desirable, with the expectation of obtaining it; to cherish hopes of.
- transitive verb obsolete To expect; to fear.
- noun A desire of some good, accompanied with an expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable; an expectation of something which is thought to be desirable; confidence; pleasing expectancy.
- noun One who, or that which, gives hope, furnishes ground of expectation, or promises desired good.
- noun That which is hoped for; an object of hope.
- intransitive verb To entertain or indulge hope; to cherish a desire of good, or of something welcome, with expectation of obtaining it or belief that it is obtainable; to expect; -- usually followed by
for . - intransitive verb To place confidence; to trust with confident expectation of good; -- usually followed by
in .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To want something to happen.
- verb To be optimistic; be full of hope; have hopes.
- verb To expect and wish.
- noun uncountable The
belief orexpectation that something wished for can or will happen. - noun countable The actual thing wished for.
- noun countable A person or thing that is a source of hope.
- noun Christianity The virtuous
desire for future good.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb expect and wish
- noun one of the three Christian virtues
- noun United States comedian (born in England) who appeared in films with Bing Crosby (1903-2003)
- noun someone (or something) on which expectations are centered
- noun grounds for feeling hopeful about the future
- verb intend with some possibility of fulfilment
- verb be optimistic; be full of hope; have hopes
- noun the general feeling that some desire will be fulfilled
- noun a specific instance of feeling hopeful
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
The word hope has been adopted by Ellie. Help support Wordnik by adopting your own word here.
Examples
-
Diary Entry by virginius "gin" arnold (about the author) yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'Let us all take a deep breath and hope'; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = 'Maybe it became trendy to scoff at the use of the word \'hope\' but there is a time and place for its use. maybe this is a good time. '
OpEdNews - Diary: Let us all take a deep breath and hope 2009
-
"I only ask you not to quite forget me, though I hope -- _I hope_ -- I shall never look upon your sweet face again."
Molly Bawn Margaret Wolfe Hamilton
-
Verbs that have no Participial Stem, express the Future Infinitive Active and Passive by fore ut or futūrum esse ut, with the Subjunctive; as, -- spērō fore ut tē paeniteat levitātis, _I hope you will repent of your fickleness_ (lit. _hope it will happen that you repent_); spērō futūrum esse ut hostēs arceantur, _I hope that the enemy will be kept off_.a. The Periphrastic Future Infinitive is often used, especially in the
New Latin Grammar Charles E. Bennett
-
And on being told that we felt no doubt, her diffident mind seemed comforted; "but," she added, "I want assurance: I hope; but I don't feel sure -- I do _hope_ in Christ."
A Brief Memoir with Portions of the Diary, Letters, and Other Remains, of Eliza Southall, Late of Birmingham, England Eliza Southall
-
I hope and _hope_ they'll keep on being sorry -- because they'll be that much gladder when I come back.
Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man Marie Conway Oemler 1905
-
Oh, I hope, I _hope_ you will not waste two years more of your life, but if you do, if as you read these last lines that I shall ever write, the question is unsettled, I charge you by the memory of your sister, by the love you bear her not to wait another _moment_ -- not one.
Ester Ried 1841-1930 Pansy 1885
-
I hope you will kindly let me have a few lines of _hope_ by the
The Letters of Queen Victoria, Vol 2 (of 3), 1844-1853 A Selection from her Majesty's correspondence between the years 1837 and 1861 Queen of Great Britain Victoria 1860
-
MY DEAREST UNCLE, -- A few lines I must write to you to express to you my _very great_ delight at the certainty, God willing, of seeing you all _three_ next week, and to express a hope, and a _great hope_, that you will try and arrive a little earlier on Wednesday ....
The Letters of Queen Victoria, Volume 1 (of 3), 1837-1843) A Selection from Her Majesty's Correspondence Between the Years 1837 and 1861 Queen of Great Britain Victoria 1860
-
hi Nanditha, hope u remmeber me..havent been to the blog sphere for a long time now..hope all is well with u...the cake is yummm..but one doubt, is it a must to have baking soda in cake recipes with bananas?
Wacky Banana Cake 2008
-
"I hope," returned the captain of the Fire Brigade icily -- "I _hope_ that is not the spirit in which you propose to go through life.
A College Girl George de Horne Vaizey 1887
-
At times like this, I find myself contemplating something I call a hope horizon, or how many years it might take before everything becomes alright again.
When things look bleak, thinking in terms of ‘hope horizons’ can help #author.fullName} 2020
yarb commented on the word hope
A dog in Turgenev's story Death.
"...his dog, Hope, a gift from his cousin".
November 16, 2007
hernesheir commented on the word hope
An inlet, a valley, a hill. You choose this time.
November 1, 2011