hope means A female given name from English from the virtue, like Faith and Charity first used by Puritans. It carries an Arena rating of 1765, earned across 8 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, hope ranks #156 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #306 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,492 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #3,708 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
hope is pronounced /ˈhoʊp/.
Why “hope” is a great word
To desire a future outcome with an accompanying sense of its possibility, however faint. From Middle English hopen, from Old English hopian ("to hope"), from Proto-West Germanic *hopōn; further etymology unclear. Unlike “expect,” which plants a flag on the firm ground of reason, or “wish,” which tosses a coin into a well, hope is the hand on the doorknob after the knock, the seed pressed into dry soil, the light kept burning in a window against the dark. It is the minimal, necessary fiction that makes the present endurable.
Etymology
From Middle English hopen, from Old English hopian (“hope”), from Proto-West Germanic *hopōn; further etymology unclear. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian, West Frisian hoopje (“to hope”), Cimbrian hòffan (“to hope”), Dutch hopen (“to hope”), German, Luxembourgish hoffen (“to hope”), Vilamovian höfnan (“hope”), Yiddish האָפֿן (hofn, “to hope”), Danish håbe (“to hope”), Norwegian Bokmål håpe (“to hope”), Norwegian Nynorsk håpa, håpe (“to hope”), Swedish hoppas (“to hope”).
name
- A female given name from English from the virtue, like Faith and Charity first used by Puritans.
- An English and Scottish topographic surname from Middle English for someone who lived in a hope, a small enclosed valley.
- A male given name transferred from the surname.
- A place name, including:; A place in Canada:; A town and district municipality in British Columbia.
- A place name, including:; A place in Canada:; A community in the city of Vaughan, Regional Municipality of York, Ontario.
- A place name, including:; A place in Canada:; A township municipality in Bonaventure Regional County Municipality, Quebec.
- A place name, including:; A settlement near Richmond, Tasman district, New Zealand.
- A place name, including:; A place in the United Kingdom:; A village and civil parish in High Peak borough, Derbyshire, England (OS grid ref SK1783).
- A place name, including:; A place in the United Kingdom:; A hamlet in Worthen with Shelve parish, Shropshire, England (OS grid ref SJ3401).
- A place name, including:; A place in the United Kingdom:; A hamlet in Alstonefield parish, Staffordshire Moorlands district, Staffordshire, England (OS grid ref SK1255).
- A place name, including:; A place in the United Kingdom:; A village and community in Flintshire, Wales (OS grid ref SJ3058).
- A place name, including:; A number of places in the United States:; A census-designated place in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska.
- A place name, including:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in La Paz County, Arizona.
- A place name, including:; A number of places in the United States:; A city, the county seat of Hempstead County, Arkansas.
- A place name, including:; A number of places in the United States:; A minor city in Bonner County, Idaho.
verb
- To want (something) to happen, with a sense of expectation that it might [with that (+ clause); or (informal) with clause; or with so or (negative) not].e.g.“They are hoping it does not rain, but I expect it will.”
- To intend to do something and look forward to the prospect of having done it [with to (+ infinitive)].e.g.“I hope to succeed.”
- To expect optimistically that one might get something (either a change in circumstance or an object) [with for].e.g.“They're hoping for the best, but I don't think it's looking very good.”
- To place confidence; to trust with confident expectation of good [with in].e.g.“I hope in thy word.” — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms cxix:81:
- To wish.e.g.“I hope you all the best.”
noun
- The feeling of trust, confidence, belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen.e.g.“All hopes for a truce are gone after the latest attack.”
- The actual thing wished for.
- A person or thing that is a source of hope.e.g.“We still have one hope left: my roommate might see the note I left on the table.”
- The virtuous desire for future good.e.g.“But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 13:13:
- A hollow; a valley, especially the upper end of a narrow mountain valley when it is nearly encircled by smooth, green slopes; a combe.
- A sloping plain between mountain ridges.
- A small bay; an inlet; a haven.e.g.“Being by contrarie winds driuen to staie against Erith, at Grauesend, in Tilberie hope.” — 1587, Abraham Fleming, Holinshed's Chronicles:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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