excitement
Americannoun
-
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
Related Words
See agitation.
Other Word Forms
- hyperexcitement noun
- superexcitement noun
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.
For now at least, Klopp feels like a name that generates excitement outside the club more than inside it.
From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026
Hamilton said her shrinking waistline is driven by an overall desire to be healthier, and while it has made dress shopping more complicated, it hasn’t taken away from the excitement of the hunt.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 25, 2026
Would you relish the excitement and the stress and, yes, competition of working at a big company in a big city?
From MarketWatch • Apr. 24, 2026
Oracle shares were up 0.2% at $176.58 early Friday, well down from their highs of more than $300 last year when excitement about its pivot to AI cloud-computing was at its height.
From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026
And yet under all the joy and excitement is the thought of my family, missing from our forest.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
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.
