adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A person who expects or awaits something.

Adjective

1. 1
   Marked by expectation.

   "the expectant hush before the performance"

2. 2
   Pregnant.

   "an expectant mother"

3. 3
   Awaiting the effects of nature, with little active treatment. dated

Adjective

1. 1
   in an advanced stage of pregnancy wordnet
2. 2
   marked by eager anticipation wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

alertanticipative-to-beadvanceagapeagog

Example

More examples

"In Finland, expectant mothers are given a baby box by the state."

Etymology

From Old French expectant, from Latin expectans.

Editorial Guides For "expectant"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.