Learn English – one word for “the nervous excitement associated with new things”

single-word-requests

Here are feelings which to some degree are related:

  1. The feeling of waking up in a new city for the first time or starting work on a new job.
  2. The feeling of new love, meeting someone for a date, getting married or having a baby.
  3. The feeling of imagining what will it be like being in some place or time you have only read or heard about.

I have always felt myself at a loss of words, trying to convey that sort of a feeling precisely. I have to throw in several words to convey the effect: anxious, dreamy, excited, nervous, fresh, overwhelmed and so forth.

In contrast, if I have to describe the sad longing associated with old things, I have a precise term, namely, 'Nostalgia'.

The closest one word I could think of was 'Forward-looking'. But I feel, it is a bit too positive. Another word that I would consider is 'Ambivalent', but it needn't necessarily convey the feelings of new beginning. There must be a better word, isn't it?

p.s.: There are other similar questions like: this or this. So I have tried asking the question in manner, that highlights the different expectations from the answer.

Best Answer

Anticipation (or expectation) may suggest the feeling excitement you are referring to:

  • a ​feeling of ​excitement about something that is going to ​happen in the near ​future:
    • As with most ​pleasures, it's not so much the ​experience itself as the anticipation that is ​enjoyable. The postponement of the film's ​sequel has ​held ​cinemagoers in ​eager anticipation for several ​months.

(Cambridge Dictionary)

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