expected
ex·pect·ed/ɪkˈspɛk.tɪd/adjective, verb
expected is spelled E-X-P-E-C-T-E-D: 8 letters and 3 syllables (ex·pect·ed). It appears 91 times per million words in written English, the 1,167th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, expected means “Anticipated; thought to be about to arrive or occur” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in expected?
| Letters | 8: E-X-P-E-C-T-E-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: ex·pect·ed |
| In writing | 91 times per million words; the 1,167th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is expected?
Expected appears 91 times per million words in written English, the 1,167th 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 expected?
- /ɪkˈspɛk.tɪd/
Expected has 3 syllables, split ex·pect·ed in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-expected.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of expected
- more expected comparative
- most expected superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does expected mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Anticipated; thought to be about to arrive or occur.
The expected storm never arrived.
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of expect
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Expected in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense anticipated; thought to be about to arrive or occur:
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.