Hope
Etymology
From Old English "hopa"; its deeper origin is genuinely obscure, with no secure connection to older roots — unusual for so central a word, and it is oddly confined to the Germanic languages (Latin and Greek used unrelated words). Its distant tie may be to a sense of “leaping forward in expectation,” the mind vaulting ahead toward what it wants.
noun · /HOHP/
The expectant desire for a good outcome that is possible but not assured.
What it names
Reach for it for wanting-plus-believing — a longing pointed at the future and kept alive by a sense that it might just happen.
Example
Even after three rejections, she held onto the hope that the next application would land.
Related idea
Distinguish hope from optimism and from a mere wish: a wish wants without expecting; optimism is a general bias that things will work out; hope is specific and active — it wants a particular good and stays engaged with the possibility, which is why hope, unlike optimism, can coexist with clear-eyed fear.
See also