excitement
noun/ɪkˈsaɪtmənt/
Etymology From Middle English excitement, from Old French excitement, equivalent to excite + -ment.
1
The state of being excited (emotionally aroused).
- to get caught up in the excitement
- By late accounts from Rotterdam, that city seems to be in a high state of philosophical excitement.1835, Edgar Allan Poe, The unparalleled adventure of one Hans Pfaal:
2 more examples
- Elise nodded, fighting the traitorous flutters of excitement in her stomach.2013, Linda Skye, A Dance with Indecency:
- In 1825, the first public railway carried passengers across the English countryside, setting in motion not just an engineering revolution, but an industrial one too. Imagine the awe and excitement of those first passengers as they boarded the train, unaware that they were witnessing the dawn of a new era.2025 October 1, Richard Evans, “The value of the railway effect”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 58:
2
Something that excites.
- Derived terms
- counterexcitement, hyperexcitement, overexcitement