hopefuls

noun

plural of hopeful
as in candidates
one who seeks an office, honor, position, or award the three mayoral hopefuls are going to debate on local TV

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hopefuls Even spots that have been hard to fill in the past, such as the city’s Senior Commission, had nine hopefuls seeking five spots. — Barbara Henry, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 June 2026 Politics has also centered on this road where presidents and presidential hopefuls have made key campaign stops and policy rollouts. — Salena Zito, Washington Post, 1 July 2026 A lot can be learned about UConn’s NBA Draft hopefuls by just watching the Elite Eight game against Duke. — Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 20 June 2026 The top vote-getter in each league during Phase 1 automatically earns a starting spot, though that is unlikely to affect any of the A’s hopefuls. — Sean Campbell, Sacbee.com, 22 June 2026 Hawks hopefuls like Sacha Boisvert, John Mustard, Mason West and others will be active this week for the development camp. — Kalen Lumpkins, Chicago Tribune, 29 June 2026 Though not a common refrain for hopefuls looking to make what is considered one of the most elite teams in the NFL cheer world, Waller's situation is different from others. — Tabitha Parent, PEOPLE, 26 June 2026 For China’s grueling annual college entrance exam earlier this month – which more than 10 million hopefuls take each year – authorities required screening of all glasses. — John Liu, CNN Money, 27 June 2026 Yale accepted only 4% of more than 50,000 applicants for the class of 2030, and while Harvard has declined to release the newest admissions statistics until October, just 4% of nearly 48,000 hopefuls were admitted for the class of 2029. — Lisa Chambers, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hopefuls
  1. candidates
  2. contenders
  3. applicants
Noun
  • There were 4,183 ballots cast in the Kings/Ducks voting, and four candidates received at least 75% of the vote.
    — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2026
  • His youngest daughter is now among the six candidates in the special election that will decide who finishes his term.
    — Tia Mitchell, AJC.com, 6 July 2026
Definition of candidates
Noun
  • Such has been such a dramatic overhaul in the conference that the Heat at one moment can be viewed as contenders for the NBA Finals and at another the perception quite reasonably can be … right back in the play-in pool.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 4 July 2026
  • Elsewhere, general classification contenders Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) all produced good performances to stay within 40 seconds of the leading pair.
    — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 4 July 2026
Definition of contenders
Noun
  • North Natomas Jibe also provides a $600 vanpool subsidy per vehicle for eligible applicants.
    — Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 1 July 2026
  • Candidates arrive with context about the role and the culture that cold applicants rarely have.
    — Crystal Gilmore, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
Definition of applicants

Browse Nearby Words

hopefulness
hopefuls
hopeless
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hopefuls.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hopefuls. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of gambol

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All