The desire for a good outcome joined to a belief that it is possible.
The desire for a good outcome joined to a belief that it is possible — positive and future-directed.
Distinctively positive and desire-driven: it combines wanting a good outcome with some belief it is obtainable. Unlike anticipation it must aim at a desired outcome; unlike expectancy it is lower-certainty but higher-desire (“expect implies a high degree of certainty… hope implies little certainty”); unlike optimism it is directed at a specific outcome rather than being a general disposition; unlike longing it retains belief in possibility. “Hope for,” “in hopes of,” “hope against hope.”
Desire for a good outcome joined to a belief or confidence that it is possible.
The general secular sense, attested from c. 1200.
Hope as one of the three Christian virtues — trust in salvation and divine promise.
The original Old English sense (hopian); faith, hope, and charity.
From Old English hopian “to hope, trust,” and the noun hopa “confidence in the future” — a word of unknown ultimate origin, with North Sea Germanic cognates (cf. German hoffen).
Shifted from a primarily religious/theological sense (the virtue of Hope, trust in God) toward the general “expectation of something desired” (from c. 1200) and “wishful desire.” Personified as “Hope” since c. 1300. No reliable recent-generation shift.