hoping
- 1Present participle and gerund of hope.
Hoping for a better harvest, the farmers planted their seeds early.
The committee is hoping to finalize the budget by Friday.
Note
Every construction the verb hope takes carries over into its -ing form: hoping that it clears, hoping to leave early, hoping for rain, hoping in someone. Dropping that, as in I'm hoping the weather will be sunny, is informal. The participial clause hoping to… has long been in use. The King James Bible of 1611 has hoping to come unto thee shortly, and Dickens's Barnaby Rudge (1841) has a man looking east, hoping to see the first streaks of day.
- 2Full of hope, or tending to inspire hope in others.
Her hoping words lifted the spirits of everyone in the room.
The crowd's hoping cheers grew louder as the runner neared the finish line.
Similarhopeful, encouraging, optimistic, heartening
Oppositedespairing, hopeless, discouraging
Note
This is a rare adjective, easily mistaken for the verb form. Before a noun it describes something that holds or offers hope, not someone in the act of hoping: a hoping situation is not yet desolate. It is compared with more and most (more hoping, most hoping). Because it is rare, it stands out on the page, so it is best used for deliberate effect rather than as an everyday word.
Showing meanings only.
hoping is a form of hope
hope, verb: To want something to happen or to be true, or to want and intend to do something, and think it may happen. Full entry
- Spelling
- hope → hoping: drop the e, add -ing
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with hoping, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.
Origin
Formed from "hope" plus the suffix "-ing." It is cognate with German "Hoffnung" ("hope").