The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Hopeful \Hope"ful\, a.
   1. Full of hope, or agreeable expectation; inclined to hope;
      expectant.
      [1913 Webster]

            Men of their own natural inclination hopeful and
            strongly conceited.                   --Hooker.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Having qualities which excite hope; affording promise of
      good or of success; as, a hopeful youth; a hopeful
      prospect. "Hopeful scholars." --Addison. -- Hope"ful*ly,
      adv. -- Hope"ful*ness, n.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

hopeful
    adj 1: having or manifesting hope; "a line of people hopeful of
           obtaining tickets"; "found a hopeful way of attacking the
           problem" [ant: hopeless]
    2: full or promise; "had a bright future in publishing"; "the
       scandal threatened an abrupt end to a promising political
       career"; "a hopeful new singer on Broadway" [syn: bright,
       hopeful, promising]
    n 1: an ambitious and aspiring young person; "a lofty aspirant";
         "two executive hopefuls joined the firm"; "the audience was
         full of Madonna wannabes" [syn: aspirant, aspirer,
         hopeful, wannabe, wannabee]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

179 Moby Thesaurus words for "hopeful":
   Leibnizian optimist, Pollyanna, addict, adolescent, advantageous,
   agape, agog, all agog, also-ran, anticipant, anticipating,
   anticipative, anticipatory, applicant, apt, aspirant, aspirer,
   aspiring, assured, auspicious, awaiting, baby, baby kisser,
   beaming, blithe, blithesome, bright, bright and sunny, budding,
   candidate, certain, cheerful, cheering, cheery, chiliast,
   collector, confident, content, couleur de rose, coveter,
   dark horse, defeated candidate, desirer, devotee, dud, eager, easy,
   elated, encouraging, eupeptic, euphoric, exalted, exhilarated,
   expectant, expecting, fair, fancier, favorite son, fledgling,
   flushed, fond, forearmed, foreseeable, forestalling, forewarned,
   freak, full of hope, gaping, genial, glad, gladsome, glowing,
   golden, halcyon, hankerer, happy, heartening, high, hoper, hoping,
   in anticipation, in expectation, in good heart, in good spirits,
   in high spirits, in hopes, in the cards, infant, inspiriting,
   irrepressible, irrepressible optimist, junior, juvenal, juvenile,
   lame duck, laughing, liable, likely, looking for,
   looking forward to, lover, millenarian, millennialist, millennian,
   minor, not surprised, odds-on, of good cheer, of good hope,
   office seeker, optimist, optimistic, perfectibilist,
   perfectibilitarian, perfectionist, philosophical optimist,
   pleasant, political hopeful, predictable,
   predictable within limits, prepared, presidential timber,
   presumable, presumptive, probable, promising, propitious,
   pubescent, radiant, ray of sunshine, ready, reassuring, riant,
   rose-colored, roseate, rosy, running mate, sanguine, sanguineous,
   sapling, satisfied, secure, seeker, slip, smiling, solicitant,
   sparkling, sprig, stalking-horse, statistically probable,
   stripling, suitor, sunny, sure, teenager, teener, teenybopper,
   undespairing, undisturbed, unsurprised, up-and-coming, upbeat,
   utopian, verisimilar, votary, waiting, waiting for, wanter,
   watching for, winsome, wisher, yearner, young hopeful,
   young person, younger, youngest, youngling, youngster, youth