excitement

From Middle English excitement, from Old French excitement, equivalent to excite +‎ -ment.

• enPR: ĭk-sītʹmənt, IPA^(key): /ɪkˈsaɪtmənt/

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excitement (countable and uncountable, plural excitements)

1. (uncountable) The state of being excited (emotionally aroused).

   to get caught up in the excitement

   • 1835, Edgar Allan Poe, The unparalleled adventure of one Hans Pfaal:

     By late accounts from Rotterdam, that city seems to be in a high state of philosophical excitement.

   • 2025 October 1, Richard Evans, “The value of the railway effect”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 58:

     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.

2. (countable) Something that excites.