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Wiktionary

anticipate

English

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Etymology

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From Latin anticipātus, perfect passive participle of anticipāre (“anticipate”); from ante (“before”), + capere (“take”). See capable.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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anticipate (third-person singular simple present anticipates, present participle anticipating, simple past and past participle anticipated)

  1. (transitive) To act before (someone), especially to prevent an action.
    Synonym: preclude
  2. to take up or introduce (something) prematurely.
    The advocate plans to anticipate a part of her argument.
  3. to know of (something) before it happens; to expect.
    to anticipate the pleasures of a visit
    to anticipate the evils of life
    Please anticipate a journey of an hour from your house to the airport
    • 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 31, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:
      The task was more to Appleby's liking than the one he had anticipated, and it was necessary, since the smaller merchants in Cuba and also in parts of Peninsular Spain have no great confidence in bankers, and prefer a packet of golden onzas or a bag of pesetas to the best accredited cheque.
    • 2011 October 2, Jonathan Jurejko, “Bolton 1 - 5 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      But surely they did not anticipate the ease with which their team raced into an almost impregnable half-time lead.
    Synonyms: expect, foretaste, foresee
  4. to eagerly wait for (something)
    Little Johnny started to anticipate the arrival of Santa Claus a week before Christmas.
    Synonym: look forward to

Usage notes

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The words anticipate and expect both regard some future event as likely to take place. Nowadays they are often used interchangeably although anticipate is associated with acting because of an expectation: e.g. "skilled sportsmen anticipate the action and position themselves accordingly".

Derived terms

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Translations

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Esperanto

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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anticipate

  1. present adverbial passive participle of anticipi

Ido

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Pronunciation

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anticipate

  1. adverbial present passive participle of anticipar

Italian

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Etymology 1

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Verb

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anticipate

  1. inflection of anticipare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

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Participle

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anticipate f pl

  1. feminine plural of anticipato

Latin

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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anticipāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of anticipō

Spanish

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Verb

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anticipate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of anticipar combined with te
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