Hopefully

How to spell hopefully

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce hopefully

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hopefully mean?

1. adverbIt is to be hoped that; expressing a wish that something will happen.
2. adverbIn a manner full of hope; with an attitude of expectation.

Hopefully in a sentence

• Hopefully the parcel will arrive before the weekend.

• The dog looked up hopefully as she opened the fridge.

• Hopefully the new policy will reduce waiting times at the clinic.

• He glanced hopefully at the noticeboard, scanning for his name.

Where does hopefully come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word hope descends from the Old English noun hopa and verb hopian, meaning to trust or to wish with expectation, and it has Germanic relatives in Dutch hopen and German hoffen. The adjective hopeful was formed in English by adding -ful, literally giving the sense of being full of hope, and from that the adverb hopefully arose by adding the regular adverb ending -ly. For centuries it carried only the manner meaning, namely doing something in a hopeful way. During the twentieth century a newer disjunct use spread, where hopefully modifies a whole sentence and means it is to be hoped that, much like the older sentence adverbs frankly or honestly. The spelling trap is simple but persistent: the word keeps both the e of hope and a single l from -ful, since the adjective hopeful already dropped one l, so the adverb is hope plus ful plus ly with no doubling.

How the word is built

• hope (Old English hopa: expectation, trust)
• -ful (full of)
• -ly (adverb suffix)