# hope

Pronunciation: say "HOHP" US /hoʊp/, UK /həʊp/

## Verb

1. To want something to happen or to be true, or to want and intend to do something, and think it may happen.
   - Simple: To want something to happen or be true and think that it might.
   - _They hope that the new treatment will ease her symptoms._
   - _I hope so, though the odds aren't really in our favor._
7. To wish someone something, such as luck or happiness. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: To wish that someone will have something good, like luck or a safe trip.
8. To place confidence in someone or something, trusting with confident expectation of good.
   - Simple: To trust someone or something fully and expect good to come.
   - _The faithful hope in a power greater than themselves._
   - _Through years of illness and loss, he never stopped hoping in God's mercy._

## Noun

2. A feeling of trust, belief, or confident expectation that what one wants can or will come about.
   - Simple: A good feeling that something you want will happen.
   - _A sudden surge of hope filled the room when the doctor smiled._
   - _Years of failure had slowly drained her of hope._
3. The actual thing that someone wishes for.
   - Simple: The thing that you want and wish for.
   - _A quiet life in the countryside was her one true hope._
   - _All his hopes rested on the outcome of a single exam._
4. The possibility that something wanted will come about, often in negative statements saying it is slight or nonexistent.
   - Simple: A chance that something you want will happen, often used to say the chance is small or there is none.
   - _Rescuers said there was little hope of finding more survivors under the rubble._
   - _Without a loan, the restaurant has no hope of staying open past the summer._
5. Someone or something in which people find hope or place their hopes.
   - Simple: A person or thing that makes others feel hopeful.
   - _The rookie quarterback became the team's last hope for the playoffs._
   - _These seedlings are the farmer's best hope after the drought._
6. In Christian teaching, one of the three theological virtues: the confident desire for eternal life and future good, trusting in God's help to attain it.
   - Simple: In Christian teaching, one of three main virtues: trusting God and looking forward to life with God.
   - _Christian teaching treats hope as a gift that turns believers toward an eternal good._
   - _The homily described hope as inseparable from faith and love._
9. A small enclosed valley or sloping hollow between hills or ridges. *(dialectal, Northern England, Scotland)*
   - Simple: A small valley or low area of land with hills or ridges around it.
10. A small coastal bay or inlet that offers a sheltered haven. *(dialectal, Scotland)*
   - Simple: A small bay or inlet along a coast that makes a safe harbor.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 7–8** — From Middle English hopen, from Old English hopian ("to hope"), from Proto-West Germanic *hopōn, with the further origin unclear. It is related to Dutch hopen, German hoffen, and Swedish hoppas, all meaning "to hope."
**Meanings 2–6** — This noun is a native word. It descends from Old English hopa, meaning "hope, expectation," through Middle English hope, and shares its origin with the verb. Esperance, which English had taken from Middle French esperance, lost out to it.
**Meaning 9** — Old English hop, a word attested chiefly in place names, became Middle English hope, meaning "a valley."
**Meaning 10** — The English word hoop is a cognate. This one, though, was borrowed from Icelandic hóp, a name for a small bay or inlet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/hope (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).