Other forms: anticipated, anticipating, anticipates
To anticipate something is to see it coming and act before it arrives. A good waiter anticipates the empty glass; a driver anticipates the car about to pull out; a goalkeeper anticipates the shot and is already moving.
It also means to look forward to something: the eagerly anticipated final, a much anticipated album. The noun is anticipation — waiting with anticipation, in anticipation of rain. Careful writers keep anticipate apart from expect. You expect a parcel; you anticipate a problem and order the spare part in advance. The difference is the preparing. You can anticipate that something will happen, and companies anticipate demand, costs and delays, which is to say everything they plan around.
1verbanticipateTo realise in advance that something will happen and prepare for it.
“The council anticipated the flooding and moved the sandbags a day early.”
2verbawaitTo look forward to something.
“Fans have been anticipating this record for three years.”
synonyms: await, look forward to
3verbactTo act before someone else does, or before the proper moment.
“He anticipated the objection and had the figures ready on the screen.”
Also accepted in games: foresee
Anticipate is Latin ante- (before) welded to capiō (to take): to take beforehand. The same capiō gives capable and capture their grip. Someone who anticipates has already got hold of the thing while it is still on its way.
Latin
anticipātus
English, today
anticipate
Built from
Latin anticipātus, perfect passive participle of anticipō (“to anticipate”) (see -ate), from ante- (“before”), + capiō (“to take”) + -ō. See capable.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA