hopefuladj.n.
/ˈhəʊpfʊl/ 1.
a. Full of hope; feeling or entertaining hope; expectant of that which is desired.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > [adjective]
hightlyOE
sanguinian1340
brighta1413
sanguine1509
hopeful1597
sanguinical1632
hopely1653
hoping1842
sanguineous1847
hoped1896
upbeat1947
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III i. ii. 24 Child..Whose vgly and vnnaturall aspect, May fright the hopefull mother at the view. View more context for this quotation
1665 T. Herbert Some Years Trav. (new ed.) 124 Hopeful of some reward.
1822 Jeffrey Let. lxxxix, in Cockburn Life II The..happiest, hopefulest, creature that ever set fortune at defiance.
1885 J. Ruskin Præterita I. vii. 220 A time of active and hopeful contentment for both the young people.
b. Expressive of hope.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > [adjective] > expressing hope
hopeful1609
1609 S. Rowlands Famous Hist. Guy Earle of Warwick 81 The comfort of a hopeful word bestowing.
1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. iii. 15 It is likely enough that ten thousand other young men..made the same hopeful remark in the course of the same evening.
2.
a. Causing or inspiring hope; giving promise of success or future good, ‘promising’: said of a person or thing on which one's hope is set, or concerning which hope is entertained; sometimes ironically, of a young person who is likely to disappoint hopes.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > promise, ground of hope > [adjective]
fairc1325
likely1548
sperable1565
hoped1581
propitious1581
promising1594
hopeful1599
auspiciousa1616
flattering1633
promissory1732
sperate1808
likely-looking1827
favourable1828
promiseful1855
1599 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. ii. 14 Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she, Shee's the hopefull Lady of my earth. View more context for this quotation
1647 in A. Wood Life & Times (1891) I. 301 (note) Money to maintain hopeful students at the University.
1709 J. Strype Ann. Reformation li. 515 That she [i.e. Queen Elizabeth] would allow Honorary Salaries to the acute and hopeful Youth, for their Maintenance in their Studies there.
1732 J. Swift Queries (1733) 28 Which of the two..is in the hopefullest Condition to ruin the Church.
1768 O. Goldsmith Good Natur'd Man i. 3 Here comes his hopeful nephew; the strange good natur'd, foolish, open-hearted.
1865–6 H. Phillips Amer. Paper Currency II. 92 Loans now seemed to afford a hopeful prospect of relief.
b. as n. (colloquial). A ‘hopeful’ boy or girl: often ironical. (Sometimes as a quasi-proper name.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > young person > [noun] > young and inexperienced person
colta1225
chicken1691
hopeful1720
pup1887
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > disappointment > [noun] > that which disappoints > person > potentially
hopeful1720
1720 Duchess Ormond Let. 18 Apr. in J. Swift Wks. (1814) XVI. 363 Else young Hopeful might have been in danger.
1811 Ld. Byron Hints from Horace 256 O'er hoards diminish'd by young Hopeful's debts.
1842 C. Whitehead Richard Savage (1845) III. vi. 381 Some of the young hopefuls make their parents pay pretty smartly for their love.
1860 G. H. Lewes Let. 26 Sept. in Geo. Eliot Lett. (1954) III. 349 My hopeful and his parent will appear at the ‘Bedford’ on Monday morning.
1899 F. J. Crowest Beethoven 41 He committed this hopeful, only now some nineteen years of age, to the care of an old lawyer friend.
1957 W. Thielens in R. K. Merton Student-Physician 133 This difference is more than partially due to anticipation by medical school hopefuls of the more demanding entrance requirements.
1972 Daily Tel. 27 Oct. (Colour Suppl.) 9/2 A dozen new applications arrive each day and are filed away with all the other hopefuls anxious to establish themselves on the circuits.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
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adj.n.1597