expect
Usage
What are other ways to say expect?
The verb expect implies confidently believing, usually for good reasons, that an event will occur: to expect a visit from a friend. To anticipate is to look forward to an event and even to picture it: Do you anticipate trouble? Hope implies a wish that an event may take place and an expectation that it will: to hope for the best. Await (wait for) implies being alert and ready, whether for good or evil: to await news after a cyclone.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Does that become a bigger challenge than you expect?
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026
“We expect restructuring to be announced with Q2 results.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
For former France striker Louis Saha, the star showing from Olise was "what we expect from such a player" - and he has a big target in mind.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
Labelled as planet X, prominent astronomers had put it forward as an explanation for Uranus’s orbit, which drifts from the path of orbital motion that physics would expect it to follow.
From Science Daily • Jun. 9, 2026
“Will you tell me what I should expect? For when it’s my turn?”
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
Vocabulary lists containing expect
"Eleven"
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List 5
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Think
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