What does expectation mean?
Word: Expectation
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Expectation means a strong belief that something will happen, or a hope about how good someone or something will be.
Synonyms: hope, anticipation, belief, assumption
How do you spell expectation?
Syllables: ex - pec - ta - tion
Tricky part: The vowel after the p is e, not a, so expactation is wrong.
Watch out for: expactation, expecktation, expictation
Memory tip: Picture a pet waiting at the door: expectation has the e of pet after its p, never the a of pat.
Idioms and Phrases
- live up to expectations: to be as good as people hoped Example: "The new Marathi film lived up to expectations and ran for months."
Expectation in a sentence
Example 1: Against all expectation, the smallest boy won the long jump.
Example 2: My parents have high expectations for my board exams.
Example 3: The crowd waited in silent expectation for the result.
Fun Fact
Life expectancy, a close cousin of the word, is the average number of years people are expected to live; in India it has more than doubled since independence.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Only one of these roots forms a noun when the suffix shown is added. Choose it:
-ation
a) expect
b) respect
c) inspect
d) suspect
Show answer
a) expect. Expect + ation gives expectation; inspect takes ion (inspection), while respect and suspect make no ation noun.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The team's naxepotecit of an easy win vanished in the first over.
a) expectation
b) exception
c) exportation
d) expedition
Show answer
a) expectation. Rearranged, the eleven letters spell expectation, the hope of an easy win; exportation would need an r.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
expecttation
a) a
b) t
c) c
d) p
Show answer
b) t. Only one t comes before the ation ending.
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. disappointment 2. ambition 3. curiosity 4. expectasion
a) a strong belief or hope that something will happen
b) a strong wish to succeed
c) a strong wish to know or learn something
d) the sad feeling when a hope does not come true
Show answer
a) a strong belief or hope that something will happen. Expectasion has an s in place of a t near the end; ambition, curiosity and disappointment are all correct.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A result that is 'beyond expectation' is ____.
a) better than anyone had hoped
b) worse than last year's
c) not yet announced to anyone
d) exactly what was planned
Show answer
a) better than anyone had hoped
2. Which sentence shows that something fell short of expectations?
a) The film was better than anyone thought.
b) The film was not as good as we had hoped.
c) The film began exactly on time today.
d) The film was long but worth the wait.
Show answer
b) The film was not as good as we had hoped.
