excitement
Americannoun
-
excitements
plural
-
an excited state or condition.
- Synonyms:
- ado, commotion, perturbation
- Antonyms:
- serenity
-
something that excites.
noun
-
the state of being excited
-
a person or thing that excites; stimulation or thrill
Synonym Usage
See agitation.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of excitement
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English excitament, “encouragement,” from Medieval Latin excitāmentum; excite + -ment
Explanation
Excitement is a feeling or situation full of activity, joy, exhilaration, or upheaval. One thing about excitement — it sure isn't boring. There are a few types of excitement, but they're all exciting — they get your attention. If you can't wait for your birthday, you're feeling a happy kind of excitement. If everyone in class is screaming and throwing things, the teacher might ask, "What's all the excitement about?" A sleeping dog is resting — no excitement there. But a dog that’s jumping, barking, and running in circles when his owner comes home is feeling and causing a lot of excitement.
Vocabulary lists containing excitement
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 3
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-ment
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"Ithaka" by C.P. Cavafy
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"I have accepted this proposal with great excitement, a desire to learn, and a willingness to contribute everything I can."
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
His three dealerships in Minnesota and Texas have sold the new trikes as fast as they can get them, he said, while the midtier bikes have also generated excitement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
There’s not a ton of excitement here in terms of Senate races: In Montana, an independent and a Democrat are both running against Republican Kurt Alme.
From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2026
It has stirred a mix of excitement at the prospect of new jobs and investment, and worry about possible environmental damage.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
From behind me I heard Daisy squeal with excitement.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
In the memoir, Ms. Dunham traces the struggles of her adult life—fame, illness, addiction—with touching emphasis on the early tremulous excitements of becoming well-known: the affirmation, the freebies, the invitations to glittering events.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
A gray whisper of a man, he eschewed the excitements of travel in favor of a tea-filled life in his house on Utopia Parkway in Queens.
From New York Times ● Jan. 15, 2024
They are “something like but unlike critical interest, which has its own excitements but remains too often at the level of knowledge, analysis, conclusions, at worst the total boredom of having opinions.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2023
The excitements begin amidst blowing dust in Mexico, where in a remote desert some fighter planes missing since World War II suddenly reappear, engines ready to go at the touch of a switch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2017
Captain Beatty, keeping his dignity, backed slowly through the front door, his pink face burnt and shiny from a thousand fires and night excitements.
From "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
