Arouse

//əˈɹaʊz// verb

verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To stimulate or induce (feelings); pique. transitive

    "to arouse compassion, jealousy, or anger"

  2. 2
    stop sleeping wordnet
  3. 3
    To sexually stimulate. transitive

    "[…] grinding against their partners like burlesque performers, which even in parody Terry found erotic—reminding him of the Persian belly dancer he'd seen at the college, whose sensual dancing aroused him despite her claim of high art."

  4. 4
    cause to become awake or conscious wordnet
  5. 5
    To sexually stimulate.; To cause an erection of the penis or other physical signs of sexual arousal, such as fluid secretion. euphemistic, transitive

    "I can't wear wool underwear: it tends to arouse me at inappropriate times."

Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    cause to be alert and energetic wordnet
  2. 7
    To wake from sleep or stupor; to rouse. transitive

    "He kenned not whether it was devil or mortal, but flung himself on the roadside and lay like a corp for an hour or more, till the rain aroused him."

  3. 8
    summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic wordnet
  4. 9
    call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses) wordnet
  5. 10
    to evoke sexual feelings wordnet
  6. 11
    to begin moving wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
awakenawakeawakenenergizeexcitefire

Example

More examples

"Events of that type generally arouse suspicion."

Etymology

From a- + rouse.

More for "arouse"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.