expect
pronunciation
How to pronounce expect in British English:
UK [ɪkˈspekt]
How to pronounce expect in American English:
US [ɪkˈspekt]
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- Verb:
- regard something as probable or likely
- consider obligatory; request and expect
- look forward to the probable occurrence of
- consider reasonable or due
- be pregnant with
- look forward to the birth of a child
Word Origin
- expect
- expect: [16] Someone who expects something literally ‘looks out’ for it. The word comes from Latin expectāre, a compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and spectāre ‘look’ (source of English spectacle, spectre, spectrum, and speculate). Already in Latin the literal ‘look out’ had shifted metaphorically to ‘look forward to, anticipate’ and ‘await’, meanings adopted wholesale by English (‘await’ has since been dropped).=> espionage, spectacle, speculate, spy
- expect (v.)
- 1550s, "wait, defer action," from Latin expectare/exspectare "await, look out for; desire, hope, long for, anticipate; look for with anticipation," from ex- "thoroughly" (see ex-) + spectare "to look," frequentative of specere "to look at" (see scope (n.1)). Figurative sense of "anticipate, look forward to" developed in Latin and is attested in English from c. 1600. Also from c. 1600 as "regard as about to happen." Meaning "count upon (to do something), trust or rely on" is from 1630s. Used since 1817 as a euphemism for "be pregnant." In the sense "suppose, reckon, suspect," it is attested from 1640s but was regarded as a New England provincialism. Related: Expected; expecting.
Antonym
Example
- 1. Expect to get what you expect .
- 2. Some pundits expect the dollar 's woes to continue .
- 3. Some expect apple and microsoft to sue google .
- 4. But what do you expect ?
- 5. I already know what I expect .