ANTICIPATE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • 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

... opening of the transisthmian waterway. In the annals of commerce and navigation it is not conceivable that there will ever be a greater event or one fraught with more momentous consequences than uninterrupted navigation between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Little enough can we comprehend or anticipate what the far-distant future will bring forth, but this much we know—that it is our duty to solve the problems of to-day and not to indulge in dreams and fancies in a vain effort to solve the problems of a ...

— The American Type of Isthmian Canal - Speech by Hon. John Fairfield Dryden in the Senate of the - United States, June 14, 1906 • John Fairfield Dryden

... science is atheistic—that is, it is compelled to ignore even the possibility of the existence of God. Every scientific generalisation rests upon the constancy of natural forces. On no other basis is it possible to give a scientific interpretation to what has gone before or to anticipate what is to happen in the future. Every scientific calculation assumes that in the world with which it deals causation is invariable and universal. But if we are to assume the operations of a "God" at any time or point every scientific calculation ...

— Theism or Atheism - The Great Alternative • Chapman Cohen

... might they indulge this pleasing imagination; with reason might they anticipate a triumph over an enemy whose strength bears no proportion to the force that was fitted out against them, and expect that in a few months they should see the ambassadors of Spain ...

— The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 10. - Parlimentary Debates I. • Samuel Johnson

... requirements for labourers, and were assured that plenty would be glad to go to Santo Domingo. They would not, however, bind themselves there, but preferred to go down untrammelled with any conditions about pay or work, and I may anticipate here by saying that the result of our visit was very satisfactory, numbers of workmen having been ...

— The Naturalist in Nicaragua • Thomas Belt

... voices fell on my ear as the door was opened, and I knew that I was not to see the Doctor alone, but I did not anticipate facing such a gathering as I gazed at wildly, with my heart throbbing, my cheeks hot, and a film coming ...

— Burr Junior • G. Manville Fenn

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