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Is there a stylistic, tense, or plural difference between the words (wait) and (await)? Does one hold more weight or emphasis than the other?

more so than their promises they await for a new day.

O_Maina
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2 Answers2

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The difference is stylistic only, and depends on register (i.e., formality). Note that you never use await for; await works all by itself without a preposition.

wait for

is the plain unvarnished version conveying the notion that something is expected. Tom waited for their reply, but it never came.

await

is more up-register version, so it's likely to be used in more polite or formal situations: We await your reply.

Let's illustrate the difference between the two in the following scenario: A job candidate hasn't heard back from a company after an initial interview. Consider the following fragments from hypothetical "feeler" emails.

I enjoyed meeting with your representatives. I am waiting for your reply.

or

I enjoyed meeting with your representatives. I await your reply.

The first version can be perceived as abrupt and demanding. The reader will likely hear the writer's voice as harsh and peremptory, and will most likely be a bit taken aback. In such a situation, the sender of the email would be better advised to use await or another construction, such as "I look forward to your reply."

Robusto
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  • Well explained. – Lambie Dec 10 '17 at 17:51
  • Good answer, but the difference between "wait for" and "await" isn't purely stylistic; there are grammatical nuances. You can say "I'm waiting for the lights to change", but not "I'm awaiting the lights to change", nor "I await the lights to change". There seems to be a further nuance too: you can say "I await your reply" or "I'm awaiting you reply", but you can't normally say "I wait for your reply" as a complete sentence. (You could say "each time, I wait for your reply", but you wouldn't be able to say "I wait for your reply" in the example you gave.) – rjpond Dec 10 '17 at 18:03
  • @rjpond: What, you couldn't say "I await the changing of the light?" That's stilted and weird, but perfectly grammatical, and would hardly be misunderstood. – Robusto Dec 10 '17 at 20:16
  • You could indeed say "I await the changing of the light", but you can't say "I await the light to change" (whereas you can say "I'm waiting for the light to change"). So there is clearly a difference in the grammatical structures permitted by "await" and those that follow "wait for". – rjpond Dec 10 '17 at 20:23
  • OK, but that is rather a tangential point, isn't it? – Robusto Dec 10 '17 at 20:49
  • @Robusto Not in light of your statement that "The difference is stylistic only," is it? Seems rjpond has given evidence that suggests otherwise, and that the difference is "mostly" stylistic. – BobRodes Dec 10 '17 at 21:05
  • Garner generally disapproves of it, even to such an extent that "although it appears mostly in the writings of nonnative speakers of English (especially in foreign journals), it does surface in homegrown writing as well." The main problem seems to stem from await being a transitive and wait (for) an intransitive verb. That is, if the verb ends the clause, it shouldn’t be await: The plane headed back to the gate, where airport police awaited. [read waited] ....in Houston where friends and family awaited. [read waited]. – Michael Login Dec 10 '17 at 21:15
  • Collins English Usage doesn't welcome await either: Await is a fairly common word in formal writing, but you do not usually use it in conversation. Instead you use wait for, often followed by an object and a to-infinitive. For example, instead of saying "I awaited her reply", you say "I waited for her to reply". – Michael Login Dec 10 '17 at 21:15
  • @rjpond This still feels like hair-splitting to me. I'll add "for all practical purposes" to my statement, but that's as far as I'm willing to go. – Robusto Dec 10 '17 at 23:52
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wait for is used to mean you are delaying until something happens.

await has an equivalent meaning to "wait for", but perhaps more formal or old-fashioned.

wait on its own makes no sense in this context.

retnikt
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