Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb In a hopeful manner.
- adverb Usage Problem It is to be hoped.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In a hopeful or encouraging manner; in a manner to excite hope; with ground for expectation of advantage, success, or pleasure.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb In a hopeful manner.
- adverb I hope; if all goes well.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb It is
hoped that; I hope; we hope. - adverb In a hopeful manner.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb it is hoped
- adverb with hope; in a hopeful manner
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word hopefully.
Examples
-
The thing is, you have already said what you want to say in your title hopefully, so how about we just Tweet the title and a link?
Jason Burns' Blog 2009
-
I wish I could say I felt the moist eyes of my family and friends staring out hopefully from the observation enclosure.
365 tomorrows » Duncan Shields : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2010
-
The benefit to readers, new readers hopefully, is revealing the world of comic books, and it's genius!
-
With their names on it, he says, stars may be "more invested in the relationship which hopefully translates into more trust ... more responsibility."
-
Essentially, you send in the manuscript, the editor sends you and editorial letter, you make the changes, the book goes back, hopefully is accepted -- and the next time you see it it's got all these blue and red pencil marks all over it.
i need a woman with eyes like rodin, see the body caught within the stone truepenny 2009
-
They want to be the BEST worshipper, which results in hopefully amusing ways as they constantly seek to outworship the other one.
Archive 2009-06-01 2009
-
In the case of Paulin hopefully some book learning and voice modulation lessons; and in Sanfords case a serious search for a new spiritual advisor.
-
I wish I could say I felt the moist eyes of my family and friends staring out hopefully from the observation enclosure.
365 tomorrows » 2010 » July : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2010
-
We've got huge problems with the economy (which hopefully is now turning around), Iraq (thanks to Bush's idiocy), Afghanistan (again, thanks to Bush), North Korea - it's good to see that there are people still paying attention to the smaller problems and trying to find ways to fix them.
-
No one thinks it does, except for the author of this awful post, who made the absurd claim that hopefully is “most commonly used” as a verb.
tomsteele commented on the word hopefully
This means "with hope" -- not "I hope."
December 28, 2006
cathari commented on the word hopefully
Someone's got this on a "meanings have changed over the years" list, and I would rather agree. I think it got co-opted because people did want a single word to mean "I hope that".
October 30, 2007
sonofgroucho commented on the word hopefully
Hopefully, I'll now start using this word less....
October 31, 2007
bilby commented on the word hopefully
I admit to being uncomfortable with this. The usual technical arguments aside, I find it unpleasingly vague in most cases, or at worst a meaningless filler.
February 3, 2009
sionnach commented on the word hopefully
I use it in the same contexts that I use "hoffentlich" in German. I think it (the relevant form) works in both languages.
February 3, 2009