Home / Words / anticipateNo. 0028

anticipate

/ænˈtɪsɪpeɪt//ænˈtɪsɪpeɪt/·verb
to expect something and act in advance to be ready for it
Fig. 1 — The ball is still sitting in the thrower's hand, and the catcher is already strolling to the patch of floor where it hasn't landed yet.
01Definition

To anticipate is to take action before the event — the Latin anticipare means literally 'to seize beforehand'. That makes it stronger than 'expect': the spectator expects the ball; the goalkeeper anticipates it, already moving to where it will arrive. Planners anticipate demand, lawyers anticipate objections, good drivers anticipate the mistakes of others. Built into the word is preparation: to anticipate something and do nothing about it is to have merely predicted it.

02In use
  • iThe questions she anticipated were the very ones that would precede the vote, and she arrived with the answers prepared.
  • iiThe surge in ticket demand far exceeded what the organizers had anticipated.
  • iiiVigilant drivers anticipate hazards while there is still time, knowing one lapse can injure a stranger.
03Collocations
  • anticipate problems
  • anticipate demand
  • widely anticipated
  • fail to anticipate
  • in anticipation of

Family anticipation (noun) · anticipated (adjective) · anticipatory (adjective)

04Relations

=foresee, expect, predict, preempt, forecast

≠react, be caught off guard

06TOEFL & IELTS

TOEFL reading uses it for foresight in science and history — 'the study anticipated findings that would not be confirmed for decades'. In IELTS Writing Task 2, 'governments failed to anticipate the consequences' is a high-band cause-effect move, and 'in anticipation of' is a set phrase worth owning. Keep the nuance: anticipate = expect + prepare, which is why it outranks 'expect' in precision.

07Asked
What is the difference between anticipate and expect?
Expect is passive foresight; anticipate adds action. In the scene above, both figures know a throw is coming — but only one is already standing where the ball will land. You expect rain; you anticipate it by carrying an umbrella. When precision matters, reserve anticipate for foresight that changes what you do.
Is it 'anticipate doing' or 'anticipate to do'?
Anticipate takes the -ing form, never the infinitive: 'we anticipate hiring five people', not 'anticipate to hire'. It also takes a that-clause ('we anticipate that demand will rise') and a plain noun ('anticipate delays'). The to-infinitive slot belongs to expect — one more way the two verbs refuse to be twins.
What does 'in anticipation of' mean?
In preparation for something you believe is coming: 'shops stocked up in anticipation of the holiday rush'. The phrase only works when action follows the foresight — stocking, hiring, bracing. If nothing is done ahead of the event, English would say 'expecting it', not 'in anticipation of it'.
Can anticipate mean 'look forward to'?
Yes — 'the most eagerly anticipated film of the year' means the one people most look forward to. This pleasure sense usually travels with an adverb (eagerly, keenly, hotly) or the participle 'anticipated'. Without that signal, readers default to the foresee-and-prepare meaning, so add the adverb when you mean excitement.
Is anticipate formal enough for academic writing?
Yes — it is standard in research and business prose: 'the study anticipates objections', 'we anticipate completion by June'. One caution travels with it: style guides reserve anticipate for expectation plus preparation, so where you merely believe something will happen, expect is the more accurate — and more honest — verb.
What is the difference between anticipation and anticipatory?
Anticipation is the noun for the state ('waited in anticipation'); anticipatory is the adjective for actions taken ahead of the event — an anticipatory move, anticipatory anxiety, and in contract law an anticipatory breach: repudiating a deal before performance is due. The legal use shows the word's core at full strength — acting before the event arrives.