expectancy
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪkˈspɛkt(ə)nsi/
ipa: /ɛkˈspɛkt(ə)nsi/
ipa: /ɪkˈspɛktənsi/
ipa: /ɛkˈspɛktənsi/
Forms: form: expectancies
form: expectance
Etymology: From expectant + -cy or expect + -ancy.
Senses: examples: text: [T]he Dukes dissembled their feares, and dissolued their forces, and remained in expectancie what would ensue.
ref: 1599, John Hayward, The First Part of the Life and Raigne of King Henrie IIII. Extending to the end of the first yeare of his raigne, London: John Woolfe, page 39:
text: If you foresee not this misery, and the fatall consequence which necessarily must follow such a turn of Fortune, I must leave you to your own will and expectancy […]
ref: 1651, John Milton, The Life and Reigne of King Charls, London: W. Reybold, page 110:
text: [T]his is generally thought to repreſent the Vices of Nero, vvho […] did from the higheſt Expectancy become a ſtubborn and a fooliſh Tyrant.
ref: 1735, Titus Petronius Arbiter, “The Feast of Trimalchio, Imitaded. From Titus Petronius Arbiter. Convivium Sybariticum. Præludium.”, in Alexander Pope, translated by [anonymous], Mr Pope’s Literary Correspondence, volume II, London: […] E[dmund] Curll, […], →OCLC, pages 42–43:
text: Renewed hope followed renewed effort; it shone like the former for some weeks, then, like it, it faded, flickered: not a line, not a word reached me. When half a year wasted in vain expectancy, my hope died out; and then I felt dark indeed.
ref: 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter VIII, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 201–202:
text: Six minutes later Clovis approached the supper-table, in the blessed expectancy of one who has dined sketchily and long ago.
ref: 1912, Saki, “The Match-Maker”, in The Chronicles of Clovis, London: John Lane, page 23:
text: Great Danes have relatively short life expectancies compared to smaller dogs, living for an average of 8-10 years, and males are typically about 2.5 feet (0.76 meters) tall, according to the American Kennel Club.
ref: 2024 June 25, Issy Ronald, “Kevin, world’s tallest male dog, dies shortly after securing record”, in CNN:
text: People born in 2023 are now estimated to live 78.4 years, according to the CDC. That’s still shy of the 78.8-year life expectancy from 2019, but it’s a significant improvement driven by lower death rates in each of the 10 leading causes of death.
ref: 2024 December 19, Deidre McPhillips, “US life expectancy has rebounded closer to pre-pandemic levels”, in CNN:
glosses: Expectation or anticipation; the state of expecting something.
glosses: The state of being expected.
topics: law
glosses: Future interest as to possession or enjoyment
topics: mathematics
sciences
statistics
glosses: expectation; expected value
examples: text: O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! / The courtier’s, scholar’s, soldier’s, eye, tongue, sword, / Th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state […]
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
text: […] Frederic II. King of Prussia, in consequence of an expectancy granted to the house of Brandenburg, by the Emperor Leopold in 1604, took possession of East Friezland […]
ref: 1791, John Trusler, chapter 9, in The Habitable World Described, volume 10, London: for the author, page 157:
glosses: Something expected or awaited.
Synonyms: word: expectingness
Derived terms: disconfirmed expectancy
life expectancy