ANTICIPATE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Anticipate

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/æntˈɪsəpˌeɪt/ Listen

verb

Anticipate v. t. (past & past part. anticipated; pres. part. anticipating)

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." "He would probably have died by the hand of the executioner, if indeed the executioner had not been anticipated by the populace."

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.

To foresee (a wish, command, etc.) and do beforehand that which will be desired.

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.

Synonyms: To prevent; obviate; preclude; forestall; expect. 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." "I would not anticipate the relish of any happiness, nor feel the weight of any misery, before it actually arrives." "Timid men were anticipating another civil war."

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Etymology of 'Anticipate'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Anticipate" Quotes from Famous Books

... through the underbrush in renewed pursuit. He came in sight of them again, just as they reached the river bank. Once more his carbine was leveled. Barney pushed the girl to her knees behind a bush. Then he wheeled and fired, so quickly that the man with the already leveled gun had no time to anticipate his act. ...

— The Mad King • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... woman finds herself educated to recognize a stress of social obligation which her family did not in the least anticipate when they sent her to college. She finds herself, in addition, under an impulse to act her part as a citizen of the world. She accepts her family inheritance with loyalty and affection, but she has entered into a wider inheritance ...

— Democracy and Social Ethics • Jane Addams

... exclaimed the aja. "Have you then presumed to anticipate the will of God, and to go ...

— Joseph II. and His Court • L. Muhlbach

... be lined with men whom you can trust. I anticipate neither trouble nor resistance. The whole thing is a simple formality to which the Englishman has already intimated his readiness to submit. If he changes his mind at the last moment there will be no Angelus rung, no booming of the cannons or opening of the prison doors: there will be ...

— The Elusive Pimpernel • Baroness Emmuska Orczy

... duly posted about the Commune, and set to work, men, women, and children alike silent and serious. So many of the grapes are harvested and manufactured in common that it is necessary the vintage should begin on a fixed day, and no one was allowed to anticipate or postpone. Some cut the grapes, and dropped them into the flattish wooden barrels, which others, after mashing the berries with a long wooden pestle, bore off and emptied frothing and gurgling into big casks mounted ...

— A Little Swiss Sojourn • W. D. Howells

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