expectation
/ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/noun
expectation is spelled E-X-P-E-C-T-A-T-I-O-N: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, expectation means “The act or state of expecting or looking forward to an event as about to happen” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of expectation is expectations.
How many letters and syllables are in expectation?
| Letters | 11: E-X-P-E-C-T-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 9.8 times per million words; the 7,224th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is expectation?
Expectation appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce expectation?
- US /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/
- Australia /ˌek.spekˈtæɪ.ʃən/
Expectation has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-expectation.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with expectation?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as expectation from its last stressed vowel (/eɪʃən/):
- situation
- association
- population
- administration
- operation
- organization
- application
- location
- generation
- foundation
- conversation
- investigation
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of expectation
- expectations plural
- expection
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does expectation mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act or state of expecting or looking forward to an event as about to happen.
- 2
That which is expected or looked for.
- 3
An implicit obligation or duty held by another in someone's view.
He struggled with his parents' expectations.
- 4
The prospect of the future; grounds upon which something excellent is expected to occur; prospect of anything good to come, especially of property or rank.
- 5
The value of any chance (as the prospect of prize or property) which depends upon some contingent event.
- 6
The first moment; the expected value; the long-run average value of a variable over many independent repetitions of an experiment.
- 7
colloquialThe arithmetic mean.
- 8
rareThe leaving of a disease principally to the efforts of nature to effect a cure.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Expectation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | attente |
| German | Erwartung |
| Portuguese | espera, expectação , expectativa |
| Spanish | expectación , expectativa |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does expectation come from?
From Middle French expectation, from Latin exspectātiō, from exspectō (“expect”). By surface analysis, expect + -ation. Displaced native Old English wēn.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).