hope

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Confidence

Nouns

1. hope[s], desire; trust, confidence, optimism, reliance, faith, belief; assurance, secureness, security; reassurance. See safety.

2. (omen of hope) good omen or auspices, promise; good, fair, or bright prospect; clear sky, la vie en rose; ray of hope, cheer; silver lining; Pandora's box, balm in Gilead. Slang, pie in the sky.

3. (hope for the future) assumption, presumption; anticipation, expectation; hopefulness, buoyancy, optimism, enthusiasm, aspiration.

4. (false hopes) castles in the air or in Spain, pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; Utopia, millennium, hope of Heaven; daydream, airy hopes, fool's paradise; mirage, chimera. See imagination.

5. optimist, Pollyanna; aspirant.

Verbs

1. hope, trust, confide, rely on, lean upon; pin one's hopes upon (see belief); feel or rest assured, feel confident.

2. desire, wish, anticipate; look on the bright side of, see the sunny side, see through rose-colored glasses, make the best of it, hope for the best; put a good face upon; keep one's spirits up; take heart, be of good cheer; flatter oneself.

3. hope against hope, cross one's fingers, clutch or grasp at straws, count one's chickens before they are hatched, knock on wood; make a virtue of necessity.

4. give hope, encourage, cheer, [re]assure, buoy up, embolden; be hopeful, see daylight; promise, bid fair, augur well, look up.

Adjectives

1. hoping, in hopes, hopeful, confident; secure, certain (see belief); starry-eyed; sanguine, in good heart, buoyed up, buoyant, elated, flushed, exultant, enthusiastic; fearless, undespairing, self-reliant. Informal, bullish.

2. within sight of; promising, propitious; of good omen; auspicious, encouraging, cheering, bright, rosy, roseate, rose-colored.

Adverbs — at [the] best, at worst.

Phrases — a drowning man will clutch at a straw; he that lives on hope dances to an ill tune; hope springs eternal; while there's life there's hope; another day, another dollar; every cloud has a silver lining.

Quotations — Hope springs eternal in the human breast (Alexander Pope), What is hope? nothing but the paint on the face of Existence (Lord Byron), He who has never hoped can never despair (G. B. Shaw), Hitch your wagon to a star (Emerson), In this best of all possible worlds... all is for the best (Voltaire), God's in his heaven — all's right with the world! (Robert Browning), A woman's hopes are woven of sunbeams; a shadow annihilates them (George Eliot), Hope is a waking dream (Aristotle), Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper (Francis Bacon), He that lives upon hope will die fasting (Benjamin Franklin); Hope: he is a flatterer, a parasite (Shakespeare).

Antonyms, see hopelessness.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Reliance upon the future]

Syn. faith, expectation, confidence; see anticipation 1 , optimism 2 .

2. [The object of hope]

Syn. wish, concern, aspiration, goal, promise, dream, utopia, promised land, fortune, reward, gain, achievement; see also deSire 1 , end 2 , purpose 1 .

3. [A reason for hope]

Syn. support, prop, mainstay, strength, bet, investment, faith, endurance; see also belief 1 .

v.

Syn. be hopeful, lean on, wish, expect, deSire, live in hope, rely on, Depend on, count on, aspire to, doubt not, keep one's fingers crossed, be of good cheer, pray, cherish the hope, look forward to, await, contemplate, dream, presume, watch for, bank on, reckon on, calculate on, foresee, think to, promise oneself, suppose, deem likely, believe, suspect, surmise, hold, be assured, be confident, anticipate, be prepared for, make plans for, rest on the hope, hold in prospect, aspire, assume, have faith, entertain hope, feel confident, be sure of, take as a certainty, be reassured, take heart, knock on wood*, catch at a straw*, look on the bright side*, look on the sunny side*; see also expect , trust 1 .

See Synonym Study at expect .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

optimism, faith, confidence, trust, expectation, wish, desire, want, aspiration, dream, anticipation, expectancy, prospect, belief, fancy. ''The poor man's bread.''— George Herbert. ''Eating the air on promise of supply.''—Shakespeare.

ANT.: hopelessness, despair, pessimism

II

v.

have faith, trust, be optimistic, expect, wish, desire, want, aspire, dream, anticipate, believe, fancy, look forward to, count on.

ANT.: despair, doubt