-in-waiting

Full definition of -in-waiting

Suffix

1. Depending on the expected arrival of a result, confirmation, etc.
• 1999, w:David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men Chapter Suicide as a Sort of Present, Throughout her adolescence, authorities... commented that the young mother-in-waiting 'seemed to have very, very high expectations of herself,' 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.
2. About to happen; bound to happen.
   Choosing such an unqualified person to operate the machine is an accident-in-waiting.
3. Attendant to a royal figure.

Derived terms

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

Further reading

• Lexico
• Dictionary.com|in waiting
• Collins|in waiting