anticipation

American  

[an-tis-uh-pey-shuhn] / ænˌtɪs əˈpeɪ ʃən /

noun

anticipations plural

1. the act of anticipating or the state of being anticipated.

2. realization in advance; foretaste.

3. expectation or hope.

4. previous notion; slight previous impression.

5. intuition, foreknowledge, or prescience.

6. Law. a premature withdrawal or assignment of money from a trust estate.

7. Music. a tone introduced in advance of its harmony so that it sounds against the preceding chord.

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anticipation British  

/ ænˌtɪsɪˈpeɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of anticipating; expectation, premonition, or foresight

2. the act of taking or dealing with funds before they are legally available or due

3. music an unstressed, usually short note introduced before a downbeat and harmonically related to the chord immediately following it Compare suspension

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonanticipation
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• anticipations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of anticipation

First recorded in 1540–50; from Middle French, from Latin anticipātiōn-, stem of anticipātiō “innate notion, preconception,” from anticipāt(us) “taken before, anticipated” (past participle of anticipāre “to take before”; see anticipate) + -iō -ion

Explanation

Anticipation is excitement, waiting eagerly for something you know is going to happen. Someone who has just proposed marriage waits in anticipation for a positive reply. Anticipation can be a nervous expectation, like when the birthday party waited in anticipation for Elmer to walk in so they could surprise him. However, anticipation can also mean to be like a Boy Scout: prepared. The weather center's anticipation of the storm prevented anyone from getting hurt. It can refer to something you'd like to prevent from happening, such as "the anticipation of a tax increase next year." Either way, it's a way of looking ahead, just like its Latin roots which mean "to take care of ahead of time."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

anticipation anticipations

Because since then, I’ve found myself thinking about all the other frozen things that can elicit the same feeling: not resignation, not emergency, not the sad little archaeology of dinners past, but anticipation.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

It was really wonderful to see the anticipation on everyone’s face in the crew about what outfit I was going to show up in and what wild thing I was going to say.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

“There was, at first, anticipation and hopeful excitement that we could put a finger on who, what, where, and why,” said Robert Dickman.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026

Moments of anticipation pass by, but the rescuers hear nothing.

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026

Knots formed in his stomach in anticipation of finding the third key.

From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova

It is always filtered through layers of worldviews, social practices, historical memories and anticipations of the future.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2024

And they do that through trying to anticipate how we might get hurt and reacting to those anticipations.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 13, 2023

There were bright songs about times and places, memories and anticipations, “Saturday afternoon” and “the future” — and about how the world of tomorrow might be a more just and peaceful place.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 20, 2021

In 1857, Osborne wrote that he had arrived in California “full of high hopes and bright anticipations of the future” only to find his dreams “have long since perished.”

From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014

But his exhortations toward national unity were less descriptions than anticipations, less reminders of the way we were than predictions of what we could become.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Related Words

• apprehension
• hope
• joy
• prospect