Hopefully Started an Argument That Is Still Running
Hopeful means full of hope, or a person expected to succeed. The adverb hopefully has been fought over for fifty years.
Hopeful describes someone who expects a good outcome, and as a noun it names a contender: a young hopeful, the party hopefuls. Its adverb caused one of the longest usage arguments in English. Purists insist *hopefully* means *in a hopeful manner*; almost everyone uses it to mean *it is hoped that*, and dictionaries now record both.
- Full of hope. *A hopeful expression.*
- Giving cause for hope. *A hopeful sign.*
- A likely contender. *The presidential hopefuls.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Adjective | hopeful | A hopeful start. |
| Adverb | hopefully | Hopefully it will hold. |
| Noun | hopeful | A young hopeful. |
| Noun | hope | A faint hope. |
| Opposite | hopeless | A hopeless case. |
How it is used in a sentence
- She is hopeful about the results.Hopeful about or that.
- Hopefully, the weather will improve.The disputed but universal sentence adverb.
- He waited hopefully by the door.The older sense: in a hopeful manner.
Degrees of expectation
- Hopeful — expecting good, without certainty
- Optimistic — generally expecting good outcomes
- Confident — expecting a particular outcome
- Cautiously optimistic — the diplomat's favourite phrase
- Resigned — expecting the worst and accepting it
From *hope*, Old English *hopian*, plus *-ful*. The disputed use of *hopefully* as a sentence adverb spread in American English in the 1960s, following the German *hoffentlich*.
Is it wrong to start a sentence with *hopefully*?
No. It is standard in every major dictionary, though a minority of readers still object. If you write for them, use *I hope* instead.
What is a hopeful as a noun?
Someone competing for a place or a title: an Olympic hopeful, a leadership hopeful.