anticipation

/ænˌˈtɪsəˌpeɪʃən/

/æntɪsɪˈpeɪʃən/

Other forms: anticipations

Anticipation is excitement, waiting eagerly for something you know is going to happen. Someone who has just proposed marriage waits in anticipation for a positive reply.

Anticipation can be a nervous expectation, like when the birthday party waited in anticipation for Elmer to walk in so they could surprise him. However, anticipation can also mean to be like a Boy Scout: prepared. The weather center's anticipation of the storm prevented anyone from getting hurt. It can refer to something you'd like to prevent from happening, such as "the anticipation of a tax increase next year." Either way, it's a way of looking ahead, just like its Latin roots which mean "to take care of ahead of time."

Definitions of anticipation

1. noun

   the act of predicting (as by reasoning about the future)
   synonyms: prediction, prevision

   types:

   projection

   a prediction made by extrapolating from past observations

   prognostication, prophecy, vaticination

   knowledge of the future (usually said to be obtained from a divine source)

   adumbration, foreshadowing, prefiguration

   the act of providing vague advance indications; representing beforehand

   crystal gazing

   staring into a crystal ball to arouse visions of future or distant events

   divination, foretelling, fortune telling, soothsaying

   the art or gift of prophecy (or the pretense of prophecy) by supernatural means

   type of:

   abstract thought, logical thinking, reasoning

   thinking that is coherent and logical
2. noun

   an expectation
   synonyms: expectancy

   types:

   suspense

   excited anticipation of an approaching climax

   fever

   intense nervous anticipation

   hope

   a specific instance of feeling hopeful

   buck fever

   nervous excitement of an inexperienced hunter

   gold fever

   greed and the contagious excitement of a gold rush

   type of:

   expectation

   the feeling that something is about to happen
3. noun

   something expected (as on the basis of a norm)
   “each of them had their own anticipations”

   synonyms: expectancy

   types:

   life expectancy

   an expected time to live as calculated on the basis of statistical probabilities

   type of:

   expectation, outlook, prospect

   belief about (or mental picture of) the future
4. noun

   anticipating with confidence of fulfillment
   synonyms: expectation

   type of:

   hopefulness

   full of hope