Word.ws English Dictionary

expect the unexpected

expect the unexpected verb: to be prepared for unusual or surprising events.

Verb

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

  1. (imperative, often) To be prepared for unusual or surprising events.
    • Over the years, the Beyhive has learned to expect the unexpected when it comes to our fave, so we kinda-sorta-maybe saw this coming. We knew about the documentary, and we'd heard whispers about a new album being in the works, so we suspected that the film and B7 would be dropping on the same day.2019 April 17, Ineye Komonibo, “Beyoncé Dropped Another Album While You Were Sleeping”, in Marie Claire, archived from the original on 21 Apr 2021

Forms of expect the unexpected

third-person singular presentexpects the unexpected
present participleexpecting the unexpected
past participleexpected the unexpected
pastexpected the unexpected

Questions about expect the unexpected

What does expect the unexpected mean?
Expect the unexpected means to be prepared for unusual or surprising events.
What part of speech is expect the unexpected?
Expect the unexpected is a verb.
What is the past tense of expect the unexpected?
The past tense of expect the unexpected is expected the unexpected.

Words near expect the unexpected in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: expect the unexpected (page history and authors). 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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Cite this entry: “expect the unexpected.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/expect_the_unexpected. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.