hopeful

Etymology

It is formed from English hope + -ful.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The Middle English Dictionary enters it as hōpeful, from hōpe.^[7] Hope is from Old English hopa (“confidence in the future”), a noun from hopian (“to hope, to trust”), a verb of unknown origin.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Informed by hope: about 1230 (composed perhaps before 1200), in the Ancrene Riwle, "Schrift schal beo Wreiful..Scheomeful, Hopeful, Wis, Soð".^[7] Etymonline gives about 1200, as "full of hope",^[3] and the Shorter Oxford dates the sense to Middle English.^[4] The unrevised OED has it only from 1597, in Shakespeare's Richard III.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word first described a person or attitude that has hope; the sense "giving cause for hope, promising" follows in the 1560s,^[3][5][4][8] and the OED first has it in 1599, in Romeo and Juliet.^[2] In 1755 the second sense was the main one: Johnson listed "full of qualities which produce hope" first, and said of "full of hope" that it was "now almost confined to Scotland", though found in good writers.^[6] As a noun it first meant a young person on whom hopes are set, from 1720, in a letter of the Duchess of Ormond,^[2][3][5] and this was often ironic, of a wilful or incorrigible child.^[3][2][4] Later it came to mean anyone who hopes to achieve something, as a candidate for office.^[5][4][9]

Timeline

• c. 1230 – informed by hope, full of hope.^[7] Etymonline dates it to c. 1200,^[3] and the OED to 1597.^[2]
• 1568 – causing hope, promising.^[5] Etymonline gives the 1560s and the OED 1599.^[3][2]
• 1609 – expressing hope.^[2]
• 1720 – noun, a promising young person, often ironically.^[2][3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having or expressing hope; expectant: We are hopeful about the harvest.^[9][5][2]
2. Giving reason for hope; promising: a hopeful sign of recovery.^[9][5][2]

Noun

1. A person who hopes or seems likely to succeed, especially an aspirant to some position: The presidential hopefuls gathered for a debate.^[9][5][4]
2. A young person of promise, often used ironically, as in a young hopeful.^[9][2][4]

Word family

• hopefulness
• unhopeful
• hopefully

Related words

• hopeless

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins