different between expectancy vs expect

English

Etymology

expectant +? -cy or expect +? -ancy

Noun

expectancy (countable and uncountable, plural expectancies)

1. Expectation or anticipation; the state of expecting something.
   • 1599, John Hayward, The First Part of the Life and Raigne of King Henrie IIII. Extending to the end of the first yeare of his raigne, London: John Woolfe, p. 39,^[1]

     […] the Dukes dissembled their feares, and dissolued their forces, and remained in expectancie what would ensue.

   • 1651, John Milton, The Life and Reigne of King Charls, London: W. Reybold, p. 110,^[2]

     If you foresee not this misery, and the fatall consequence which necessarily must follow such a turn of Fortune, I must leave you to your own will and expectancy […]

   • 1735, Alexander Pope, Mr. Pope’s Literary Correspondence, London: E. Curll, Volume 2, “The Feast of Trimalchio, Imitaded,” pp. 42-43,^[3]

     […] this is generally thought to represent the Vices of Nero, who […] did from the highest Expectancy become a stubborn and a foolish Tyrant.

   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter 34,^[4]

     Renewed hope followed renewed effort: it shone like the former for some weeks, then, like it, it faded, flickered: not a line, not a word reached me. When half a year wasted in vain expectancy, my hope died out, and then I felt dark indeed.

   • 1912, Saki, “The Match-Maker” in The Chronicles of Clovis, London: John Lane, p. 23,^[5]

     Six minutes later Clovis approached the supper-table, in the blessed expectancy of one who has dined sketchily and long ago.

2. The state of being expected. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
3. (obsolete) Something expected or awaited.
   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1,^[6]

     O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown!

     The courtier’s, scholar’s, soldier’s, eye, tongue, sword,

     Th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state […]

   • 1791, John Trusler, The Habitable World Described, London, for the author, Volume 10, Chapter 9, p. 157,^[7]

     […] Frederic II. King of Prussia, in consequence of an expectancy granted to the house of Brandenburg, by the Emperor Leopold in 1604, took possession of East Friezland […]

Synonyms

• expectingness (rare)

Derived terms

• life expectancy

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• axpact, ax-pact (Bermuda)

Etymology

From Latin expect?re, infinitive form of exspect? (“look out for, await, expect”), from ex (“out”) + spect? (“look at”), frequentative of speci? (“see”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?sp?kt/, /?k?sp?kt/
• Hyphenation: ex?pect
• Rhymes: -?kt

Verb

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

1. (transitive, intransitive) To predict or believe that something will happen

   Synonyms: anticipate, hope, look for

   • 2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns

     And temperatures are expected to keep rising.

2. To consider obligatory or required.

   Synonyms: call for, demand

   • 1805, Nelson, Horatio via Pasco, John, signal sent at the Battle of Trafalgar:

     England expects that every man will do his duty.

3. To consider reasonably due.

   Synonyms: hope, want, wish

4. (continuous aspect only, of a woman or couple) To be pregnant, to consider a baby due.
   • 2011, Eva Fischer-Dixon, The Bestseller

     “You are pregnant?” he asked with shock in his voice. “Yes, Justin, I am expecting a child,”

5. (obsolete, transitive) To wait for; to await.

   Synonyms: await; see also Thesaurus:wait for

   • 1825, Walter Scott, The Talisman, A. and C. Black (1868), 24-25:

     The knight fixed his eyes on the opening with breathless anxiety, and continuing to kneel in the attitude of devotion which the place and scene required, expected the consequence of these preparations.

6. (obsolete, intransitive) To wait; to stay.

   Synonym: wait

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sandys to this entry?)

Usage notes

• Expect is a mental act and mostly has a reference to the future, to some forthcoming event (e.g. a person expects to die, or he expects to survive). Think and believe may have reference to the past and present, as well as to the future (e.g. I think the mail has arrived; I believe he came home yesterday, that he is at home now). There is a not uncommon use of expect, which is a confusion of the two (e.g. I expect the mail has arrived; I expect he is at home). Await is a physical or moral act. We await something which, when it comes, will affect us personally. We expect what may, or may not, interest us personally. See also anticipate.
• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• expect in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• expect in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• expect at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• except