Adjacent Words

Anticipate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ANTIC'IPATE, v.t. [L. anticipo, of ante, before, and capio, to take.]
1. To take or act, before another, so as to prevent him; to take first possession.
2. To take before the proper time; as, the advocate has anticipated that part of his argument.
3. To foretaste or foresee; to have a previous view or impression of something future; as, to anticipate the pleasures of an entertainment; to anticipate the evils of life.
4. To prevent by crowding in before; to preclude.
[This sense is essentially included in the first.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: regard something as probable or likely; "The meteorologists are expecting rain for tomorrow" [syn: expect, anticipate]
2: act in advance of; deal with ahead of time [syn: anticipate, foresee, forestall, counter]
3: realize beforehand [syn: anticipate, previse, foreknow, foresee]
4: make a prediction about; tell in advance; "Call the outcome of an election" [syn: predict, foretell, prognosticate, call, forebode, anticipate, promise]
5: be excited or anxious about [syn: anticipate, look for, look to]
6: be a forerunner of or occur earlier than; "This composition anticipates Impressionism"

Merriam Webster's

verb (-pated; -pating) Etymology: Latin anticipatus, past participle of anticipare, from ante- + -cipare (from capere to take) — more at heave Date: 1532 transitive verb 1. to give advance thought, discussion, or treatment to 2. to meet (an obligation) before a due date 3. to foresee and deal with in advance ; forestall 4. to use or expend in advance of actual possession 5. to act before (another) often so as to check or counter 6. to look forward to as certain ; expect intransitive verb to speak or write in knowledge or expectation of later matter Synonyms: see foresee, prevent • anticipatable adjective • anticipator noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 deal with or use before the proper time. 2 disp. expect, foresee; regard as probable (did not anticipate any difficulty). 3 forestall (a person or thing). 4 look forward to. Derivatives: anticipative adj. anticipator n. anticipatory adj. Etymology: L anticipare f. anti- for ANTE- + -cipare f. capere take

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Anticipate An*tic"i*pate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Anticipated; p. pr. & vb. n. Anticipating.] [L. anticipatus, p. p. of anticipare to anticipate; ante + capere to make. See Capable.] 1. To be before in doing; to do or take before another; to preclude or prevent by prior action. To anticipate and prevent the duke's purpose. --R. Hall. He would probably have died by the hand of the executioner, if indeed the executioner had not been anticipated by the populace. --Macaulay. 2. To take up or introduce beforehand, or before the proper or normal time; to cause to occur earlier or prematurely; as, the advocate has anticipated a part of his argument. 3. To foresee (a wish, command, etc.) and do beforehand that which will be desired. 4. To foretaste or foresee; to have a previous view or impression of; as, to anticipate the pleasures of a visit; to anticipate the evils of life. Syn: To prevent; obviate; preclude; forestall; expect. Usage: To Anticipate, Expect. These words, as here compared, agree in regarding some future event as about to take place. Expect is the stringer. It supposes some ground or reason in the mind for considering the event as likely to happen. Anticipate is, literally, to take beforehand, and here denotes simply to take into the mind as conception of the future. Hence, to say, ``I did not anticipate a refusal,'' expresses something less definite and strong than to say, `` did not expect it.'' Still, anticipate is a convenient word to be interchanged with expect in cases where the thought will allow. Good with bad Expect to hear; supernal grace contending With sinfulness of men. --Milton. I would not anticipate the relish of any happiness, nor feel the weight of any misery, before it actually arrives. --Spectator. Timid men were anticipating another civil war. --Macaulay.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(anticipates, anticipating, anticipated) 1. If you anticipate an event, you realize in advance that it may happen and you are prepared for it. At the time we couldn't have anticipated the result of our campaigning... It is anticipated that the equivalent of 192 full-time jobs will be lost... Officials anticipate that rivalry between leaders of the various drug factions could erupt into full scale war. = expect VERB: V n, it be V-ed that, V that 2. If you anticipate a question, request, or need, you do what is necessary or required before the question, request, or need occurs. What Jeff did was to anticipate my next question... VERB: V n 3. If you anticipate something, you do it, think it, or say it before someone else does. In the 50s, Rauschenberg anticipated the conceptual art movement of the 80s. VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Go before, get the start of. 2. Take up beforehand, consider in advance, meet or pay in advance. 3. Foretaste, forestall, antedate, experience beforehand. 4. Expect, forecast, foresee, look forward to, count upon, reckon upon, calculate upon, prepare one's self for.

Moby Thesaurus

announce, antecede, antedate, anticipation, apprehend, approach, avert, await, bar, be before, be destined, be early, be fated, be imminent, be to be, be to come, come, come before, come on, contemplate, count on, debar, deflect, deter, discourage, dishearten, divine, draw near, draw on, dread, envisage, envision, estop, exclude, expect, expectation, face, fend, fend off, forbid, forecast, foreclose, foreglimpse, foreknow, forerun, foresee, forestall, foretaste, foretell, get ahead of, go before, go off half-cocked, have in mind, help, herald, hope, intercept, jump the gun, keep from, keep off, lie ahead, look ahead, look beyond, look for, look forward to, look out for, loom, near, nullify, obviate, plan, plot, precede, preclude, precurse, predate, predict, preexist, prepare for, presage, presume, prevent, prevision, proclaim, prohibit, project, prophesy, reckon on, repel, rule out, save, see, see ahead, see beforehand, stave off, take for granted, think, threaten, turn aside, usher in, visualize, ward off, win the start