expectation

noun8

1. •
   The act or state of expecting or looking forward to an event as about to happen.
2. •
   That which is expected or looked for.

   • I entered early adulthood with the same expectation: I would marry, and my husband would manage our money. — 2026
3. •
   An implicit obligation or duty held by another in someone's view.

   • He struggled with his parents' expectations.
4. •
   The prospect of the future; grounds upon which something excellent is expected to occur; prospect of anything good to come, especially of property or rank.

   • Charles Penrhyn, for he was the object of Louisa's preference, had expectations—that term, so vague when those expectations depend upon others. — 1838
5. •
   The value of any chance (as the prospect of prize or property) which depends upon some contingent event.
6. •
   The first moment; the expected value; the long-run average value of a variable over many independent repetitions of an experiment.
7. •
   (informal) The arithmetic mean.
8. •
   (rare) The leaving of a disease principally to the efforts of nature to effect a cure.