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expectancy

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From expectant +‎ -cy or expect +‎ -ancy.

Pronunciation

Noun

expectancy (countable and uncountable, plural expectancies)

  1. Expectation or anticipation; the state of expecting something.
    • 1599, John Hayward, The First Part of the Life and Raigne of King Henrie IIII. Extending to the end of the first yeare of his raigne‎, London: John Woolfe, page 39:
      [T]he Dukes dissembled their feares, and dissolued their forces, and remained in expectancie what would ensue.
    • 1651, John Milton, The Life and Reigne of King Charls‎, London: W. Reybold, page 110:
      If you foresee not this misery, and the fatall consequence which necessarily must follow such a turn of Fortune, I must leave you to your own will and expectancy […]
    • 1735, Titus Petronius Arbiter, “The Feast of Trimalchio, Imitaded. From Titus Petronius Arbiter. Convivium Sybariticum. Præludium.”, in Alexander Pope, translated by [anonymous], Mr Pope’s Literary Correspondence, volume II, London: […] E[dmund] Curll, […], →OCLC, pages 42–43:
      [T]his is generally thought to repreſent the Vices of Nero, vvho […] did from the higheſt Expectancy become a ſtubborn and a fooliſh Tyrant.
    • 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter VIII, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 201–202:
      Renewed hope followed renewed effort; it shone like the former for some weeks, then, like it, it faded, flickered: not a line, not a word reached me. When half a year wasted in vain expectancy, my hope died out; and then I felt dark indeed.
    • 1912, Saki, “The Match-Maker”, in The Chronicles of Clovis‎, London: John Lane, page 23:
      Six minutes later Clovis approached the supper-table, in the blessed expectancy of one who has dined sketchily and long ago.
    • 2024 June 25, Issy Ronald, “Kevin, world’s tallest male dog, dies shortly after securing record”, in CNN‎:
      Great Danes have relatively short life expectancies compared to smaller dogs, living for an average of 8-10 years, and males are typically about 2.5 feet (0.76 meters) tall, according to the American Kennel Club.
    • 2024 December 19, Deidre McPhillips, “US life expectancy has rebounded closer to pre-pandemic levels”, in CNN‎:
      People born in 2023 are now estimated to live 78.4 years, according to the CDC. That’s still shy of the 78.8-year life expectancy from 2019, but it’s a significant improvement driven by lower death rates in each of the 10 leading causes of death.
  2. The state of being expected. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
  3. (law) Future interest as to possession or enjoyment
  4. (statistics) expectation; expected value
  5. (obsolete) Something expected or awaited.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
      O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! / The courtier’s, scholar’s, soldier’s, eye, tongue, sword, / Th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state […]
    • 1791, John Trusler, chapter 9, in The Habitable World Described‎, volume 10, London: for the author, page 157:
      […] Frederic II. King of Prussia, in consequence of an expectancy granted to the house of Brandenburg, by the Emperor Leopold in 1604, took possession of East Friezland […]

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