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:
And the excitement, even at the end of a blowout loss, is genuine, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
California consumers’ acceptance of and excitement about thrifted, recycled and repurposed clothes catapulted L.A.’s Reformation from a vintage boutique into a billion-dollar company after its initial public offering last month.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Should I spend the money and PTO to feel like I’m keeping this relationship afloat, or does it create a false sense of excitement?
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026
Conductor Corrado Rovaris tended to push the tempi, however, which heightened the excitement but left little space for expressivity and nuance in the rage arias and other moments of high drama.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Next he relived the day Abby was born and felt the excitement of going to the hospital to meet his baby sister.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
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
Still, the era’s ecstasies are recaptured here by Janis’s own real-time excitements.
From New York Times ● Nov. 26, 2019
We texted, sent each other selfies, and went back and forth about the banal particulars and little excitements of our days.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2019
Not every testimony in “Secondhand Time” is made of fact; a fair number may have been warped by excitements and passions, and the passing of time.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 7, 2016
He sat propped against a tree, watching the red sentries passing to and fro in the firelight, hearing their quiet passwords and thinking about the excitements of the day.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Definitions 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.
