expectancy

/ɛkˈspɛktənsi/

/ɛkˈspɛktənsi/

Other forms: expectancies

Expectancy is the state of thinking (or hoping) that something will happen. You can sense the expectancy in the crowd just before your favorite band takes the stage.

Use this word to talk about a sense of anticipation, like your little brother's expectancy every year on his birthday that someone will throw him a surprise party. It's also used to mean "an expected amount," especially in the context of life expectancy, or the average length of a person's life: "Typically, women have a longer life expectancy than men do." Expectancy is from expect, from a Latin root meaning "look for."

Definitions of expectancy

1. noun

   an expectation
   synonyms: anticipation

   types:

   suspense

   excited anticipation of an approaching climax

   fever

   intense nervous anticipation

   hope

   a specific instance of feeling hopeful

   buck fever

   nervous excitement of an inexperienced hunter

   gold fever

   greed and the contagious excitement of a gold rush

   type of:

   expectation

   the feeling that something is about to happen
2. noun

   something expected (as on the basis of a norm)
   “an indicator of expectancy in development”

   synonyms: anticipation

   types:

   life expectancy

   an expected time to live as calculated on the basis of statistical probabilities

   type of:

   expectation, outlook, prospect

   belief about (or mental picture of) the future