The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Anticipation \An*tic`i*pa"tion\
   ([a^]n`t[i^]s`[i^]*p[=a]"sh[u^]n), n. [L. anticipatio: cf. F.
   anticipation.]
   1. The act of anticipating, taking up, placing, or
      considering something beforehand, or before the proper
      time in natural order.
      [1913 Webster]

            So shall my anticipation prevent your discovery.
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Previous view or impression of what is to happen;
      instinctive prevision; foretaste; antepast; as, the
      anticipation of the joys of heaven.
      [1913 Webster]

            The happy anticipation of renewed existence in
            company with the spirits of the just. --Thodey.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Hasty notion; intuitive preconception.
      [1913 Webster]

            Many men give themselves up to the first
            anticipations of their minds.         --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Mus.) The commencing of one or more tones of a chord with
      or during the chord preceding, forming a momentary
      discord.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Preoccupation; preclusion; foretaste; prelibation;
        antepast; pregustation; preconception; expectation;
        foresight; forethought.
        [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

anticipation
    n 1: an expectation [syn: anticipation, expectancy]
    2: something expected (as on the basis of a norm); "each of them
       had their own anticipations"; "an indicator of expectancy in
       development" [syn: anticipation, expectancy]
    3: the act of predicting (as by reasoning about the future)
       [syn: prediction, anticipation, prevision]
    4: anticipating with confidence of fulfillment [syn:
       anticipation, expectation]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

123 Moby Thesaurus words for "anticipation":
   TLC, a priori knowledge, anachronism, antecedence, antecedency,
   antedate, antedating, anteriority, apprehension, attention,
   beginnings, buddhi, care, carefulness, caution, certainty,
   circumspection, circumspectness, clairvoyance, concern, confidence,
   consideration, contemplation, direct apprehension, discretion,
   earlier state, earliness, early hour, early stage, envisagement,
   envisionment, expectancy, expectation, farseeingness,
   farsightedness, feeling, first crack, first stage, foreboding,
   forecast, foreglance, foregleam, foreglimpse, forehandedness,
   foreknowledge, foreseeing, foresight, foresightedness, forethought,
   ground floor, head start, heed, heedfulness, historical error,
   hope, immediate cognition, imminence, insight, inspiration,
   intuition, intuitionism, intuitive reason, intuitiveness,
   intuitivism, knowledge without thought, lateness, longsightedness,
   looking ahead, loving care, metachronism, mindfulness, misdate,
   misdating, mistiming, parachronism, past time, postdating,
   precedence, precedency, precession, precognition, predating,
   prediction, preexistence, preparation, preparedness,
   prepublication, presentiment, prevenience, preview, prevision,
   priority, probability, prochronism, prolepsis, prospect,
   prospection, providence, provision, prudence, readiness, regard,
   regardfulness, reliance, running start, sagacity, satori,
   second sight, second-sightedness, sixth sense, solicitude,
   status quo ante, subconscious knowledge, subconscious perception,
   tardiness, tender loving care, thought, thoughtfulness,
   time to spare, unastonishment, unmediated perception,
   unpunctuality, very beginning