Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. In a hopeful manner.
- adv. Usage Problem It is to be hoped: "Marriage is a coming together for better or for worse, hopefully enduring” ( William O. Douglas).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- In a hopeful or encouraging manner; in a manner to excite hope; with ground for expectation of advantage, success, or pleasure.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. In a hopeful manner.
- adv. I hope; if all goes well.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. it is hoped
- adv. with hope; in a hopeful manner
Examples
“The thing is, you have already said what you want to say in your title hopefully, so how about we just Tweet the title and a link?”
“In the case of Paulin hopefully some book learning and voice modulation lessons; and in Sanfords case a serious search for a new spiritual advisor.”
“We've got huge problems with the economy (which hopefully is now turning around), Iraq (thanks to Bush's idiocy), Afghanistan (again, thanks to Bush), North Korea - it's good to see that there are people still paying attention to the smaller problems and trying to find ways to fix them.”
“They want to be the BEST worshipper, which results in hopefully amusing ways as they constantly seek to outworship the other one.”
“I wish I could say I felt the moist eyes of my family and friends staring out hopefully from the observation enclosure.”
365 tomorrows » 2010 » July : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“No one thinks it does, except for the author of this awful post, who made the absurd claim that hopefully is “most commonly used” as a verb.”
“Essentially, you send in the manuscript, the editor sends you and editorial letter, you make the changes, the book goes back, hopefully is accepted -- and the next time you see it it's got all these blue and red pencil marks all over it.”
i need a woman with eyes like rodin, see the body caught within the stone
“The benefit to readers, new readers hopefully, is revealing the world of comic books, and it's genius!”
“With their names on it, he says, stars may be "more invested in the relationship which hopefully translates into more trust ... more responsibility.”
“And I had a strong desire to explore spirituality in hopefully a unique way - it extends beyond the Aniw concept of the Little Spirit.”
sionnach I use it in the same contexts that I use "hoffentlich" in German. I think it (the relevant form) works in both languages. Feb 3, 2009
bilby I admit to being uncomfortable with this. The usual technical arguments aside, I find it unpleasingly vague in most cases, or at worst a meaningless filler. Feb 3, 2009
sonofgroucho Hopefully, I'll now start using this word less.... Oct 30, 2007
cathari Someone's got this on a "meanings have changed over the years" list, and I would rather agree. I think it got co-opted because people did want a single word to mean "I hope that". Oct 30, 2007
tomsteele This means "with hope" -- not "I hope." Dec 28, 2006