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Anticipate   /æntˈɪsəpˌeɪt/   Listen
verb
Anticipate  v. t.  (past & past part. anticipated; pres. part. anticipating)  
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." "He would probably have died by the hand of the executioner, if indeed the executioner had not been anticipated by the populace."
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.
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."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Anticipate" Quotes from Famous Books



... would do if you were here. But I reckon I had better not anticipate, and so I will begin at the beginning. On the morning of the eighth we held a council. The physician and the two students had gone. All had their limit of elk except Mr. Haynes and myself. Our licenses also entitled each of us to a deer, a mountain sheep, and a bear. We ...
— Letters on an Elk Hunt • Elinore Pruitt Stewart

... heroine is so magical, that we are constantly tempted to let her tell her own story, and to give to the gems of hers which we insert in these pages the slightest possible setting of our own. But it is not our business to anticipate for any one a reading from which no student of modern literature, or, indeed, of modern mind, will excuse himself. We must give only so much as shall make it sure that others will seek more at the fountain-head; but ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 8, Issue 49, November, 1861 • Various

... what all young ladies anticipate. They never are but always to be blest,' replied Vernon, laughing. He was one of those open-hearted souls who always appreciate ...
— The Golden Calf • M. E. Braddon

... hoisted on the citadel of Bayonne, when a rumour became prevalent that an extensive encampment of troops, destined for the American war, was actually forming in the vicinity of Bordeaux. A variety of causes led me to anticipate that the corps to which I was attached would certainly be employed upon that service. In the progress of the war which had been just brought to a conclusion, we had not suffered so severely as many other corps; and though not excelling in numbers, it is but ...
— The Campaigns of the British Army at Washington and New Orleans 1814-1815 • G. R. Gleig

... a man of medium size, thick-set, and inclined to be fleshy, with an interesting, smooth face, eye clear and glance alert. He grasped me quickly by the hand, but shook it gingerly, giving the impression that he was endeavoring to anticipate me, called me by name, and made a pleasant allusion to —— of ——. He has a high forehead and what you would term an intelligent face, but not one you would pick out as that of a great man; and from a study of his work I should say that he is of a class of advanced politicians, clever ...
— As A Chinaman Saw Us - Passages from his Letters to a Friend at Home • Anonymous


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