What does expect mean?

Definitions for expect
ɪkˈspɛktex·pect

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word expect.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. expect, anticipateverb

    regard something as probable or likely

    "The meteorologists are expecting rain for tomorrow"

  2. ask, require, expectverb

    consider obligatory; request and expect

    "We require our secretary to be on time"; "Aren't we asking too much of these children?"; "I expect my students to arrive in time for their lessons"

  3. expect, look, await, waitverb

    look forward to the probable occurrence of

    "We were expecting a visit from our relatives"; "She is looking to a promotion"; "he is waiting to be drafted"

  4. expectverb

    consider reasonable or due

    "I'm expecting a full explanation as to why these files were destroyed"

  5. expectverb

    look forward to the birth of a child

    "She is expecting in March"

  6. have a bun in the oven, bear, carry, gestate, expectverb

    be pregnant with

    "She is bearing his child"; "The are expecting another child in January"; "I am carrying his child"

Wiktionary

  1. expectverb

    To look for (mentally); to look forward to, as to something that is believed to be about to happen or come; to have a previous apprehension of, whether of good or evil; to look for with some confidence; to anticipate; -- often followed by an infinitive, sometimes by a clause (with, or without, that).

  2. expectverb

    To consider obligatory or required.

  3. expectverb

    To consider reasonably due.

    You are expected to get the task done by the end of next week.

  4. expectverb

    to be pregnant, to consider a baby due

  5. expectverb

    To wait for; to await.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To EXPECTverb

    Etymology: expecto, Latin.

    While, expecting there the queen, he rais’d
    His wond’ring eyes, and round the temple gaz’d. Dryden.

  2. To Expectverb

    To wait; to stay.

    Elihu had expected ’till Job had spoken. Job.

Wikipedia

  1. Expect

    Expect is an extension to the Tcl scripting language written by Don Libes. The program automates interactions with programs that expose a text terminal interface. Expect, originally written in 1990 for the Unix platform, has since become available for Microsoft Windows and other systems.

ChatGPT

  1. expect

    Expect is a verb that refers to anticipating or looking forward to something happening in the future, either based on previous experiences, beliefs, or logical reasoning. It involves having a reasonable or likely assumption about a specific outcome or result.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Expectverb

    to wait for; to await

  2. Expectverb

    to look for (mentally); to look forward to, as to something that is believed to be about to happen or come; to have a previous apprehension of, whether of good or evil; to look for with some confidence; to anticipate; -- often followed by an infinitive, sometimes by a clause (with, or without, that); as, I expect to receive wages; I expect that the troops will be defeated

  3. Expectverb

    to wait; to stay

  4. Expectnoun

    expectation

Wikidata

  1. Expect

    Expect, an extension to the Tcl scripting language written by Don Libes, is a program to automate interactions with programs that expose a text terminal interface. Expect is available for Unix, Microsoft Windows, and other systems. It is used to automate control of interactive applications such as telnet, ftp, passwd, fsck, rlogin, tip, ssh, and others. Expect uses pseudo terminals or emulates a console, starts the target program, and then communicates with it, just as a human would, via the terminal or console interface. Tk, another Tcl extension, can be used to provide a GUI.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Expect

    eks-pekt′, v.t. to wait for: to look forward to as something about to happen: to anticipate: to hope.—n. (Shak.) expectation.—ns. Expect′ance, Expect′ancy, act or state of expecting: that which is expected: hope.—adj. Expect′ant, looking or waiting for.—n. one who expects: one who is looking or waiting for some benefit or office.—adv. Expect′antly.—ns. Expectā′tion, act or state of expecting: prospect of future good: that which is expected: the ground or qualities for anticipating future benefits or excellence: promise: the value of something expected: (pl.) prospect of fortune or profit by a will; Expectā′tion-week, the period between Ascension Day and Whitsunday—during this time the Apostles continued praying in expectation of the Comforter.—adj. Expect′ative, giving rise to expectation: reversionary.—n. an expectancy.—n. Expect′er (Shak.), one who waits for a person or thing.—adv. Expect′ingly, in a state of expectation. [L. exspectāre, -ātumex, out, spectāre, to look, freq. of specĕre, to see.]

Editors Contribution

  1. expect

    To know what is ethically and morally just is easily achieved in order of priority and succeeds easily, efficiently and effectively.

    The people expect their government to be just, fair, responsible, respectful and working in unity to achieve for the optimum health, unity, human rights, animal rights, right to life and shared prosperity of all people.


    Submitted by MaryC on March 17, 2020  

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'expect' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1022

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'expect' in Written Corpus Frequency: #693

  3. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'expect' in Verbs Frequency: #73

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce expect?

How to say expect in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of expect in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of expect in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of expect in a Sentence

  1. Park Sang-jun:

    Foreign beer has boosted its share of the household retail market rapidly and I expect the same trend will emerge as they find favour in bars and restaurants over time.

  2. Neil Getnick:

    I expect that is just the beginning. Typically about six months in we'll see that matters will begin to crystallize, and at that point I would expect an uptick in enforcement cases.

  3. Jay Abolofia:

    Ask yourself how long you expect to live in the home, if it's less than five years, consider renting instead, especially if prices are high and the market is volatile.

  4. Jesse Hurwitz:

    We do not expect the recent slowing to lead to a broader pullback in aggregate growth, as service sector activity remains solid.

  5. Silvia Franke:

    I expect Merkel to really say in concrete terms how we're going to do this,'.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

expect#1#2323#10000

Translations for expect

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"expect." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 10 Feb. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/expect>.

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