await

Forms

present (v1): await
past (v2): awaited
past participle (v3): awaited
present participle: awaiting
3rd person singular: awaits

Definitions

1.To wait for.(formal)
- I await your reply to my letter.
- In love, however, women are brave. How many clamber over rooftops of houses and palaces, and are still doing it, when their lovers await them!
- After 170416 heads into the bay platform (2) to be prepared for its next trip to 'Skeggy', there's time to grab a coffee and await the arrival of RAIL's next train - the 1144 Leicester-Grimsby Town.
2.To expect.
3.To be in store for; to be ready or in waiting for.
- O Eve, some further change awaits us nigh.
- Glorious rewards await the good in heaven; eternal suffering awaits mortal sinners in hell.
4.To serve or attend; to wait on, wait upon.

Frequency

Overall

Rare· #4140

By learning goal

Everyday conversation: Rare
General reading & writing: Rare
Academic: Rare
Literature: Rare

Related words

Synonyms

Etymology

From Middle English awaiten, from Old Northern French awaitier (“to lie in wait for, watch, observe”), originally especially with a hostile sense; itself from a- (“to”) + waitier (“to watch”).

More at English wait.