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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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:
The photographs she sent home from Kathmandu, taken just days before she went missing, capture something of that excitement.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
But the excitement shared by visitors and the veterinary team quickly gave way to concern.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
The push coincided with rising global excitement about AI and the prospects for Samsung and SK Hynix.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
As attendees make their way out of the venue, excitement lingers through the air.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
No one did get Twitch’s meaning exactly, but they all understood that there was now a larger group of friends, which left everyone feeling a buzz of excitement for the possibilities that might follow.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
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
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
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
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
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.
