hopefully
- 1It is hoped that; used to express the speaker's or writer's hope that something will happen or turn out to be the case.
Hopefully, the new policy will reduce wait times at the clinic.
The repairs should be finished by Friday, hopefully in time for the weekend crowds.
UsageUsually at the start, often with a comma (Hopefully, we'll win), or at the end. After a verb (waited hopefully) it means full of hope.
Note
Here the adverb comments on the whole statement rather than on how anything is done: hopefully, my father will arrive in time. The use first caught on in the United States and may be a calque of German hoffentlich, which works the same way.
- 2In a hopeful manner; with a look, tone, or attitude that expresses hope.
She glanced hopefully at the mailbox, watching for the acceptance letter.
The candidates waited hopefully as the election results were read aloud.
UsageUsually right after its verb with no comma (smiled hopefully, waited hopefully), and it can be graded: more hopefully.
Similarexpectantly, optimistically, eagerly
Oppositedespairingly, hopelessly, pessimistically, despondently
Note
This is the manner sense, the one that tells how someone acts or looks: a speaker in an Alasdair Gray story will be sitting hopefully inside a puce Reliant Scimitar.
Use it in a sentence
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Origin
The suffix "-ly" was added to "hopeful" to make this word. Using it as a sentence adverb caught on first in the United States, and some explain that use as a possible calque of German "hoffentlich."