expectancy

«expectancy» in Mova's school dictionary: the feeling that something exciting or important is about… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (expectancy, expectancies)

meaning for a pupil

1) Expectancy is the feeling that something exciting or important is about to happen. tree →

2) «Life expectancy» is the number of years a person or animal is likely to live, on average. tree →

sense in the lessons

In geography, science and maths, life expectancy compares how long people live in different countries or times; it has grown thanks to clean water, vaccines and better food. In stories, «an air of expectancy» tells the reader everyone is waiting for something. Common phrases: «life expectancy», «an air of expectancy», «a sense of expectancy», «full of expectancy».

examples

• Life expectancy in the UK is about eighty years. tree →
• There was an air of expectancy as the curtain rose. tree →
• Long ago, life expectancy was much lower because many babies died young. tree →
• The life expectancy of a pet hamster is about two years. tree →
• The children waited in silent expectancy for the results. tree →
• Clean water has raised life expectancy around the world. tree →
• A dog's life expectancy depends on its breed. tree →

note

Mostly uncountable; plural «expectancies» is rare. Trap in maths: life expectancy is an average — it does not mean everyone dies at that age. Low life expectancy long ago was mainly because many young children died, not because adults all died at forty.

In the corpora

• People in Japan live into their mid-80s on average, while in Chad and some other poor countries life expectancy is in the 50s.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «expectancy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.