as in optimistically
in a positive or optimistic manner
They waited hopefully for the doctor to update them on their friend's condition. When the sun appeared, we asked hopefully if everyone remembered to bring sunblock.
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Recent Examples of hopefully
Starting next weekend, Denver will be hosting NFL playoff games — two of them, hopefully — for the first time since January 2016, when Peyton Manning, Von Miller and The No Fly Zone marched the Broncos to Super Bowl 50.
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Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 7 Jan. 2026
In Stranger Things 5, set in the fall of 1987, the teens (and the handful of their parents interested in their whereabouts) set out to kill Vecna — and hopefully not get killed themselves.
—Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 5 Jan. 2026
Go for a stroll on the water line at night or early morning and hopefully tracks will present themselves, flipper marks and a solid line for the shell, like hieroglyphs.
—Eric Barton, Sun Sentinel, 4 Jan. 2026
And hopefully the administration will be a good partner in that endeavor.
—Obed Manuel, NPR, 5 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hopefully
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hopefully
Adverb
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Our political leaders optimistically crow about the state’s future.—
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Be optimistically realistic, as much as possible.—
Adverb
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Thankfully, Loki's happily ever after came shortly after the animal shelter posted this video.—
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As a childless person who doesn’t teach I’ve been happily unaware that, due to standardized testing requirements that favor close reads of excerpts over whole books, there’s an entire generation of students who have very little contextual framework for the literature they’re being taught in school.—
Adverb
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With this introduction of a hapless protagonist not entirely managing to live her best life, Brett Haley‘s film cheerfully speaks both the literary and cinematic language of romantic comedy — and won’t seek to subvert or elevate it in the two hours that follow.—
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Unable to roll the map out, its creators cheerfully realize that the country itself can serve as its own map.—
Adverb
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That Berube can’t answer that question publicly and confidently right now is part of the problem for the team.—
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As expected, Mahomes made all his game picks and confidently rolled with his Red Raiders to secure the afternoon victory.—
Adverb
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Downstairs, a group of Americans are chatting joyfully.—
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Amish are part of the wider Anabaptist movement, which puts heavy emphasis on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, containing some of his most radical and counter-cultural sayings — to love enemies, live simply, bless persecutors, turn the other cheek and to endure sufferings joyfully.—
Adverb
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On December 18, 2025, the North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, with assistance from the North Carolina SBI Crime Lab, positively identified the remains as Bethany Brown.—
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After starting positively under Dyche, Forest have lost their past four games, leaving them four points above West Ham in 17th.—
Adverb
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They are felt as they are composed, painfully, joyously, cellularly—and they are designed for other biological beings to experience, to connect with, to be animated, provoked and moved by.—
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My favorite style of Brazilian music is a roda de samba, where musicians play in a circle as the crowd joyously surrounds them at spots like Vaca Atolada or Pedra do Sal.—
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Hopefully
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Cite this Entry
“Hopefully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hopefully. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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