Word.ws English Dictionary

expect

Syllables: ex·pect/ɪkˈspɛkt/

expect verb: to predict or believe that something will happen.

Verb

expect (third-person singular simple present expects, present participle expecting, simple past and past participle expected)

  1. (ambitransitive) To predict or believe that something will happen
    • when you least expect it
    • I expect to be able to walk again after getting over my broken leg.
  2. To consider obligatory or required.
    • England expects that every man will do his duty.1805, Nelson, Horatio via Pasco, John, signal sent at the Battle of Trafalgar
    • I was born and immediately thrown into a society that makes its own rules, standards, and expectations. I am expected to behave. I am expected to deliver. I am expected to live up to the contrived standards of the society.2015, Sajith Buvi, I Am 7.5 Billion Human, page 49
    Synonyms:
    call for, demand
  3. To consider reasonably due.
    • My parents expected too much of me when I was in college.
    • You are expected to get the task done by the end of next week.
    Synonyms:
    hope, want, wish
  4. (continuous aspect only) To be pregnant, to consider a baby due.
    • We are expecting our third in June.
    • “You are pregnant?” he asked with shock in his voice. “Yes, Justin, I am expecting a child,”2011, Eva Fischer-Dixon, The Bestseller
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To wait for; to await.
    • Let's in, and there expect their coming.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • The knight fixed his eyes on the opening with breathless anxiety, and continuing to kneel in the attitude of devotion which the place and scene required, expected the consequence of these preparations.1825, Walter Scott, The Talisman, A. and C. Black (1868), 24-25
  6. (intransitive, obsolete) To wait; to stay.
    • I will 'expect until my change in death, / And answer at Thy call1636, G[eorge] S[andys], “(please specify the page)”, in A Paraphrase upon the Psalmes of David. And upon the Hymnes Dispersed throughout the Old and New Testaments, London: [Andrew Hebb […]], →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    wait

expect meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

expect in Hindi

to expect
अपेक्षा करना apekṣā karnā

expect in Tamil

to look for, look forward to, anticipate
எதிர்பார் etirpār
to consider obligatory
எதிர்ப்பார்த்தல் etirppārttal

expect in Marathi

अपेक्षा करणे

expect in Urdu

to expect, see, anticipate )
دیکھنا dekhnā
More languagesFewer languages
expect in Bengali
আশা করা, প্রত্যাশা করা, অনুমান করা, মনে করা
expect in Malayalam
കാത്തിരിക്കുക kāttirikkuka
expect in Kannada
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಿಸು, ಪ್ರತೀಕ್ಷಿಸು, ಮುಂದಾಗುವುದೆಂದು ಭಾವಿಸು, ಎದುರುನೋಡು
expect in Punjabi
اڈیکنا uḍīkṇā
expect in Sanskrit
काङ्क्षति kāṅkṣati
expect in Nepali
अपेक्षा गर्नुहोस्
expect in Arabic
تَوَقَّعَ tawaqqaʕa
expect in Persian
انتظار داشتن entezâr dâštan
expect in Thai
คาดหวัง kâat-wǎng
expect in Vietnamese
mong đợi

Examples of expect in a sentence

  • The hostage is expected to be released later today.
  • I expect it'll rain this weekend, but I hope it won't.
  • I did not expect you'd come before I asked you to, but do expect you to apologize for it.
  • How am I expected to reach the next level?
  • “[…] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
  • And temperatures are expected to keep rising.2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns:

All 40 example sentences with expect

Synonyms of expect

11 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of expect

Forms of expect

third-person singular presentexpects
present participleexpecting
past participleexpected
pastexpected
second-person singular present (archaic)expectest
second-person singular past (archaic)expectedst
third-person singular present (archaic)expecteth

Past tense of expect: expected

Origin of expect

From Latin expectāre, infinitive form of exspectō (“look out for, await, expect”), from ex (“out”) + spectō (“look at”), frequentative of speciō (“see”).

Words formed from expect

Words that rhyme with expect

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about expect

What does expect mean?
Expect means to predict or believe that something will happen.
What is expect in Hindi?
Expect in Hindi is अपेक्षा करना (apekṣā karnā). See Expect meaning in Hindi.
How do you use expect in a sentence?
The hostage is expected to be released later today.
What part of speech is expect?
Expect is a verb.
How do you pronounce expect?
Expect is pronounced /ɪkˈspɛkt/.
What is the past tense of expect?
The past tense of expect is expected.

Words near expect in the dictionary

  1. expatriots
  2. expats
  3. expdn.
  4. expdns.
  5. expecially
  6. expect
  7. expect the unexpected
  8. expectability
  9. expectable
  10. expectably
  11. expectance

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: expect (page history and authors); अपेक्षा करना (Hindi) (page history and authors); expect (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); دیکھنا (Urdu) (page history and authors); expect (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); കാത്തിരിക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); expect (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); اڈیکنا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); काङ्क्षति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); expect (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-expect.ogg.

Cite this entry: “expect.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/expect. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.