adjective
-
having or expressing hope
-
giving or inspiring hope; promising
noun
Other Word Forms
- hopefulness noun
- unhopeful adjective
- unhopefully adverb
Etymology
Origin of hopeful
Explanation
If you're hopeful about something, you're optimistic. You think it's going to turn out OK. Your team has been doing well in practice, so you're hopeful that you'll win the finals. Hopeful comes from the word hope, meaning "optimism about a future event," and the suffix -ful, meaning "full." So if you're hopeful, you're full of hope: you think something good is going to happen. You might be hopeful that you'll be offered a job after your great interview. Used as a noun, hopeful can describe a promising person who wants to succeed at a particular goal. The charismatic young politician is a hopeful for the next election.
Vocabulary lists containing hopeful
The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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Emotions on Display
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In the Mood? 100 Words to Describe Emotions
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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.
Companies are also hopeful about the technological developments -- 58 percent of industrial firms surveyed by German digital business association Bitkom believe humanoid robots could help plug skilled labour shortages.
From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026
McVay expressed confidence in fourth-year pro Stetson Bennett, but said he was hopeful that “when the time is right,” Garoppolo will “change his mind,” and return.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2026
"At a time when pollinators are facing global decline, this work offers a hopeful message: solutions may already be emerging in the field, and we just need to understand them," Chong-Echavez said.
From Science Daily • Apr. 20, 2026
“We were just like everyone else: still hopeful that some people were going to be found alive,” he explained.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 18, 2026
His tail thumps gently on the floor in a hopeful wag.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
