Dictionary

-in-waiting en · X

Meanings

1. (morpheme) Depending on the expected arrival of a result, confirmation, etc.
   • Throughout her adolescence, authorities... commented that the young mother-in-waiting 'seem[ed] to have very, very high expectations of [her]self,' and... there was no failing to discern in them that slight unmistakable note of approval... and at any rate the future mother felt (for the moment) approved. 1999, David Foster Wallace, “Suicide as a Sort of Present”, in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Little, Brown and Company:
2. (morpheme) About to happen; bound to happen.
   • Choosing such an unqualified person to operate the machine is an accident-in-waiting.
3. (morpheme) Attendant to a royal figure.

Deriveds

maid-in-waiting · lady-in-waiting · baroness-in-waiting · lord-in-waiting · groom-in-waiting

Relateds

accident waiting to happen · wait in the wings