hopefuls
- 1Plural of hopeful.
Several presidential hopefuls gathered for the first debate of the season.
The casting agency interviewed hundreds of hopefuls before choosing a lead.
Note
Only the noun can take this ending. Hopeful began as an adjective, meaning feeling hope or inspiring hope, and the noun for a person seeking success or victory grew out of it. An -s therefore always marks the people, never the feeling. The plural usually names a whole field of contenders, often with a qualifier in front, as in presidential hopefuls, and it is especially at home in news writing.
hopefuls is a form of hopeful
hopeful, noun: A person hoping for success or victory, especially a candidate competing in a political election. Full entry
- Forms
- hopefulhopefuls plural
- Spelling
- hopeful → hopefuls: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with hopefuls, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.