English
Pronunciation
(US) IPA|/�ho�pf�li/
Adverb
hopefully
- It is hoped that; I hope; we hope.
#* Hopefully my father will arrive in time for the show.
- In a hopeful manner.
#* In justifying the new parking structure the council looked hopefully to rising retail sales downtown.
Usage notes
The first definition has been criticized by usage writers although it is by far the most commonly used sense of the word. Many adverbs are used as sentence modifiers in this way without comment, like interestingly, frankly, clearly, luckily, unfortunately�it is unclear why hopefully has been singled out for deprecation. Unlike for many such shifts in meaning that occur in English, The portion of the American Heritage Dictionary's usage panel that condones the first sense of the word has decreased from 1969 to 2000, offering the explanation that this particular usage has become a shibboleth. Merriam-Webster, on the other hand, calls the usage "entirely standard".
Translations
rfc-level|Translations at L4+ not in L3 POS section
trans-top|it is hoped that
Dutch: t-|nl|hopelijk
Finnish: toivottavasti
German: t-|de|hoffentlich
trans-mid
Swedish: förhoppningsvis
trans-bottom
trans-top|in a hopeful manner
Dutch: t|nl|hoopvol
Finnish: toiveikkaasti
German: t-|de|hoffnungsvoll
trans-mid
Swedish: hoppfullt
trans-bottom
Category:Disputed usage
it:hopefully
te:hopefully
vi:hopefully
zh:hopefully
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