"hopeful" in the noun sense
1. aspirant, aspirer, hopeful, wannabe, wannabee
an ambitious and aspiring young person
"a lofty aspirant"
"two executive hopefuls joined the firm"
"the audience was full of Madonna wannabes"
"hopeful" in the adjective sense
1. hopeful
having or manifesting hope
"a line of people hopeful of obtaining tickets"
"found a hopeful way of attacking the problem"
2. bright, hopeful, promising
likely to turn out well in the future
"had a bright future in publishing"
"the scandal threatened an abrupt end to a promising political career"
"a hopeful new singer on Broadway"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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