despite our expectations

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "despite our expectations" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to indicate that something occurred contrary to what was anticipated or hoped for. Example: "Despite our expectations, the event turned out to be a complete failure."

✓ Grammatically correct

News & Media

Science

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

9 human-written examples

Belinda goes so far as to marry an ex-priest, a character wholly original despite our expectations.

The New York Times - Books

Despite our expectations at the time, he nevertheless managed to gain admission to a selective college, and nearly a decade later I continue to envy his experiences that summer.

The New York Times

"We feel both Carnival and Royal Caribbean are attractively valued, trading at 10 to 13 times normalized earnings despite our expectations for robust long-term sales growth in the high single digits and EPS growth in the low double digits," Badishkanian explained.

Forbes

In a report to clients, UBS analyst Maynard Um raised his rating on Navteq from “neutral” to “buy” and hiked his price target to $60 from $38. "Despite our expectations for slower mass market adoption in the U.S. [of in-dash car navigation systems], we anticipate relatively steady growth as manufacturers continue to offer in-dash navigation as an option in more models," Um wrote.

Forbes

But what we realized was that despite our expectations, the day was exactly the way it should have been.

Huffington Post

Despite our expectations that large alternatively spliced exons of the Gr39a would experience similar selective constraints and stabilizing selection, we found evidence of relaxation in the selective constraints on exon A (which is prone to duplication) and exon E. Exon E is either present as a single copy or lost in some lineages, while exon A has multiply duplicated in most species.

Plosone

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

51 human-written examples

"Despite our expectation for a rebound in home sales from the recent lows witnessed so far this year, we expect total home sales to post a small decline in 2014 compared to 2013 — the first retreat in four years," he concluded.

The Washington Post

"Despite our expectation that 2006 will be a strong year for Genzyme, we believe that the likely neutral outcome of DCOR [Dialysis Clinical Outcomes and Research], lowering of the top-line revenue based on the strengthening dollar, and the lack of news flow in the second half of 2005 will cause near-term weakness in the Genzyme shares," said Piper Jaffray.

Forbes

Specifically, we received no calls or letters with questions or asking for further information or assistance in any manner despite our expectation and planning for such inquires.

Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source

Despite our expectation of an improvement, limiting the tests performed to more highly expressed genes did not improve the overall number of significant findings (results not shown).

European Journal of Human Genetics

Remarkably, the Bayesian variable selection models never outperformed the other models, despite our expectation that they can put more weight on SNPs that have consistent LD with QTL across lines.

Genetics, Selection, Evolution

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

When using "despite our expectations", ensure the sentence clearly establishes what the expectations were. This provides context and emphasizes the unexpected nature of the outcome.

Common error

Avoid using "despite our expectations" without clearly stating what those expectations were. This can confuse the reader and weaken the impact of the statement. Ensure the context makes the initial expectations clear.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "despite our expectations" functions as a prepositional phrase that introduces a contrast or contradiction. It sets up a situation where the outcome or result is different from what was initially anticipated. Ludwig AI confirms its correct usage.

Expression frequency: Uncommon

Frequent in

News & Media

40%

Science

40%

Formal & Business

20%

Less common in

Academia

0%

Encyclopedias

0%

Reference

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, "despite our expectations" is a prepositional phrase used to introduce a contrast between anticipated and actual outcomes. It's grammatically correct, as confirmed by Ludwig AI, and used to emphasize the unexpected nature of an event or situation. While it's not the most common phrase, it's versatile and can be used in neutral contexts like news, media and scientific writing. When using this phrase, ensure that the expectations are clearly defined to avoid ambiguity. Some alternatives include "contrary to our anticipation" and "against our hopes".

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

contrary to our anticipation

Emphasizes the contrast between the actual outcome and the anticipation.

against our hopes

Highlights the disappointment when something doesn't align with what was hoped for.

in defiance of our predictions

Indicates a direct contradiction of what was predicted.

unforeseen by us

Focuses on the unexpected nature of the outcome.

differing from what we envisioned

Highlights the difference between the outcome and our vision.

not as we foresaw

Implies the outcome was different from what was anticipated.

notwithstanding our outlook

Indicates that the outcome occurred regardless of our outlook.

in spite of what we thought

Simple way to indicate that our thoughts or assumptions were incorrect.

disregarding our foresight

Highlights that our foresight did not prevent or predict the actual outcome.

regardless of our anticipation

Focuses on the fact that what happened was not dependent on what we anticipated.

FAQs

How can I rephrase the sentence "Despite our expectations, the project was successful"?

You can use alternatives like "contrary to our expectations", "against all odds", or "unexpectedly" depending on the context.

Is it correct to use "in spite of our expectations" instead of "despite our expectations"?

Yes, "in spite of" and "despite" are often interchangeable. Both phrases indicate that something happened even though something else might have prevented it.

What's the difference between "despite our expectations" and "because of our expectations"?

"Despite our expectations" indicates that something happened even though we thought it wouldn't. "Because of our expectations" indicates that our expectations caused something to happen. They have opposite meanings.

When should I use "despite our expectations" in my writing?

Use "despite our expectations" when you want to highlight a surprising or unexpected outcome that contradicts what was previously anticipated or believed.