expect

expect, hope, look, await are comparable when they mean to have something in mind as more or less certain to happen or come about. They vary, however, so greatly in their implications and in their constructions that they are seldom interchangeable.

Expect usually implies a high degree of certainty, but it also involves the idea of anticipation (as by making preparations or by envisioning what will happen, what one will find, or what emotions one will feel)

{

he told his mother not to expect him for dinner

}

{

she had reason to expect that the trip would be exciting

}

{

he seems to require and expect goodness in his species as we do a sweet taste in grapes and China oranges— Mandeville

}

{

what can you expect of a girl who was allowed to wear black satin at her coming out ball?— Wharton

}

Hope (often with for) implies some degree of belief in the idea that one may expect what one desires or longs for; although it seldom implies certitude, it usually connotes confidence and often especially in religious use implies profound assurance

{

he dared not hope that he would succeed in his venture, for he feared disappointment

}

{

what I hope for and work for today is for a mess more favorable to artists than is the present one— Forster

}

{

encouraged to hope for a college education— Scudder

}

Look (usually followed by to with an infinitive and sometimes also by to with a personal object) is less literary than expect; it often also suggests more strongly than expect a counting upon or a freedom from doubt

{

they look to profit by their investment

}

{

they looked to their son to help them in their old age

}

{

I never look to have a mistress that I shall love half as well— Brooke

}

With for, on the other hand, look does not imply as much assurance; it suggests rather an attitude of expectancy and watchfulness

{

they are looking for news in the next post

}

{

there is no use looking for their return tonight

}

{

finality is not to be looked for in . . . translation— Swaim

}

Await often adds to look for the implication of being ready mentally or, sometimes, physically for the event; it also suggests waiting, often patient waiting

{

we await your reply with interest

}

{

the two armies are eager for action, each awaiting an attack by the other

}

{

I . . . had known it would happen to me, and now it was there with all the strangeness and dark mystery of an awaited thing— Wolfey

}

Await also differs from the other words in this group in its capacity for taking as subject the thing expected and as object the person who is expecting

{

good fortune awaits you

}

{

death awaits all men

}

Analogous words: *foresee, foreknow, anticipate, apprehend, divine

Antonyms: despair of