hope

English Online Dictionary. What means hope‎? What does hope mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: hōp, IPA^(key): /həʊp/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /hoʊp/
• Rhymes: -əʊp

Etymology 1

From Middle English hopen, from Old English hopian (“hope”), from Proto-West Germanic *hopōn, further etymology unclear.

Verb

hope (third-person singular simple present hopes, present participle hoping, simple past and past participle hoped)

1. (intransitive, transitive) To want something to happen, with a sense of expectation that it might.
2. To be optimistic; be full of hope; have hopes.
3. (intransitive) To place confidence; to trust with confident expectation of good; usually followed by in.
4. (transitive, dialectal, nonstandard) To wish.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “to want something to happen, with the expectation it might”): wish

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• aspire
• desire
• expect
• look forward
• want

Etymology 2

From Middle English hope, from Old English hopa (“hope, expectation”), from the same source as the verb hope.

Noun

hope (countable and uncountable, plural hopes)

1. (countable or uncountable) The feeling of trust, confidence, belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen.
2. (countable) The actual thing wished for.
3. (countable) A person or thing that is a source of hope.

4. (Christianity, uncountable) The virtuous desire for future good.

Derived terms

Related terms

• forlorn hope

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English hope (“a valley”), from Old English hōp (found only in placenames). More at hoop.

Noun

hope (plural hopes)

1. (Should we move, merge or split⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (Northern England, Scotland) A hollow; a valley, especially the upper end of a narrow mountain valley when it is nearly encircled by smooth, green slopes; a combe.

Etymology 4

From Icelandic hóp (“a small bay or inlet”). Cognate with English hoop.

Noun

hope (plural hopes)

1. (Should we move, merge or split⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) A sloping plain between mountain ridges.
2. (Scotland) A small bay; an inlet; a haven.

Anagrams

• pheo, pheo-

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

hope

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of hopen

Maori

Noun

hope

1. waist
2. hip (ringa hope)

Middle English

Alternative forms

• hoppe

Etymology

From Old English hopa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɔːp(ə)/

Noun

hope (plural hopes)

1. trust, confidence; wishful desire; expectation

Descendants

• English: hope
• Yola: hopes (plural)

References

• “hōpe, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Shona

Etymology

From the root of Common Bantu *dʊ̀kópè, whence also chikope (“eyelid”).

Noun

hópé class 10

1. sleep

Spanish

Verb

hope

1. only used in me hope, first-person singular present subjunctive of hoparse
2. only used in se hope, third-person singular present subjunctive of hoparse
3. only used in se ... hope, syntactic variant of hópese, third-person singular imperative of hoparse

West Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhoːpə/

Noun

hope n (no plural)

1. Alternative form of hoop