Hopeful means feeling that good things may come. Hopeful about the result, remain hopeful, a hopeful sign.
Of a person it describes the feeling; of a sign or a development it means encouraging. Cautiously hopeful is the standard formula when nobody wants to promise anything. As a noun, a hopeful is somebody trying for a position: a young hopeful, presidential hopefuls. Note hopefully, which as a sentence adverb means it is to be hoped and was objected to for decades before winning completely.
1adjectivehopefulFeeling that good things may come.
“We're hopeful that the weather will clear up in time for the wedding.”
2adjectiveencouragingEncouraging, of a sign.
“The patient opened his eyes this morning, which is a hopeful sign.”
hopeful is a state of expecting good.
Middle English
hopen
English
hope
English, today
hopeful
From hope + -ful. From hope + -ful. hope comes from Middle English hopen. From Middle English hopen, from Old English hopian (“hope”), from Proto-West Germanic hopōn; further etymology unclear. 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA