Await Meaning
/əˈweɪt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo wait for.
verbTo expect.
Sentence Examples
With the President dead now, the new policies will have to await government approval.
I await your arrival.
We await the visit of our uncle with a happy heart.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The passengers will ____ the arrival of the delayed train at platform three.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We eagerly ____ the announcement of the local election results today.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat, / Chief of the angelic guards, awaiting night;"
— 1674, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost:
"I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"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!"
— 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 47:
"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."
— 2024 April 17, “Rural railways: do they deliver?”, in RAIL, number 1007, page 57:
"Standing foursquare in the heart of the town, at the intersection of the two main streets, a "jog" at each street corner left around the market-house a little public square, which at this hour was well occupied by carts and wagons from the country and empty drays awaiting hire."
— 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The passengers will ____ the arrival of the delayed train at platform three.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We eagerly ____ the announcement of the local election results today.