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anticipation

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anticipation

  • /ænˌtɪs.ɪˈpeɪ.ʃən/ UK
  • /ænˌtɪs.əˈpeɪ.ʃən/ US
  • [ɛənˌtɪs.əˈpeɪ.ʃən] US
  • /ænˌtɪs.ə.pæɪ.ʃən/ Australia

Rhymes with -eɪʃən

Where it comes from

From Middle English anticipacioun, from Middle French anticipation and its etymon Latin anticipātiō, anticipātiōnem. By surface analysis, anticipate + -ion.

noun anticipations

  1. countable, uncountable The act of anticipating, taking up, placing, or considering something beforehand, or before the proper time in natural order. Often the anticipation of a shot is worse than the pain of the stick.
  2. countable, uncountable The eagerness associated with waiting for something to occur. He waited with great anticipation for Christmas to arrive.

    Similar: electricity

  3. countable, uncountable Prepayment of a debt, generally in order to pay less interest.
  4. countable, rhetoric, uncountable Prolepsis.
  5. countable, uncountable A non-harmonic tone that is lower or higher than a note in the previous chord and a unison to a note in the next chord.
  6. countable, obsolete, uncountable Hasty notion; intuitive preconception. [M]any Men give themſelves up to the firſt anticipations of their minds, and are very tenacious of the Opinions that firſt poſſeſs them; [...]

Similar: expectingness

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: expectation, expectancy, foresight, prediction, anticipatory, forethought, prevision, forecast, predicting, predictor, prognosis, forecasting, foretaste, prepayment, before, lead-up

noun

Similar: expectingness

Translations

Every language

noun the act of anticipating

Españolprevisión, anticipación, anticipamiento
Portuguêsantecipação
DeutschErwartung, Vorausahnung, Vorahnung
Italianoanticipazione
Românăanticipare, anticipație
Русскийожида́ние ožidánije, предчу́вствие predčúvstvije, предвкуше́ние predvkušénije

noun eagerness for future occurrence

Españolanticipación, expectación
DeutschVorfreude, spannungsvolle Erwartung
Românăanticipare, anticipație

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Cite this
MLA

"anticipation." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/anticipation. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

anticipation. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/anticipation

Chicago

"anticipation." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/anticipation.

BibTeX
@misc{anticipation_2026,
  title = {anticipation},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/anticipation},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}