excited = enthusiastic; not in OED, AHD

[Benjamin Barrett]

In the US, "excited" most commonly means (very) enthusiastic, at least to me.

The OED and AHD completely fail to explicitly provide this meaning, referring instead to strong feeling or emotion. For "excited," the OED says:

1. a. Stirred by strong emotion, disturbed, agitated.

My Mac dictionary, however, addresses what to me is the basic meaning, saying:

1 very enthusiastic and eager : they were excited about the prospect | the excited children.

On the Endangered Languages list, there was an exchange where someone apparently using Irish English thought it absurd to be excited about revitalizing languages.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

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