Difference Between Waiting and Awaiting
Waiting and Awaiting are two words that are often confused as words that denote the same meaning and idea. In fact both are words that denote different meanings and connotations.
The word ‘waiting’ gives the sense of ‘to postpone action for any reason’ as in the sentences
1. He was waiting for about 2 hours for my arrival.
2. I am waiting for this to happen.
In the first sentence you can see that the word ‘waiting’ transmits the sense of delaying an action for any reason as for example the arrival of a person in this case. In the second sentence you can see that the word ‘waiting’ indicates the meaning of ‘deferring an action for some reason’ and thus the meaning of the sentence would be ‘I defer an action until it happens.”
On the other hand the word ‘awaiting’ has the meaning ‘expecting’. In other words we can say that the word ‘awaiting’ conveys the idea of expectation. This is the main difference between the two words, waiting and waiting. Look at the two sentences:
1. I am awaiting the results.
2. She was awaiting his arrival today.
In the first sentence you can see that the word ‘awaiting’ has the meaning ‘expecting’ and now the meaning of the sentence would be ‘I am expecting results. In the second sentence you can see that the word ‘awaiting’ gives the sense of ‘expecting’ and the sentence would mean that ‘she was expecting his arrival today. ”
It is interesting to note that the word ‘awaiting’ is normally followed by any preposition. On the other hand the word ‘waiting’ is sometimes followed by the preposition ‘for’ as in the phrase ‘waiting for’. These are the main differences between the two words, namely, awaiting and waiting.