Stimulate

//ˈstɪm.jəˌleɪt// verb

verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To encourage into action.

    "stimulate the economy"

  2. 2
    cause to be alert and energetic wordnet
  3. 3
    To arouse an organism to functional activity.

    "stimulate my mind"

  4. 4
    act as a stimulant wordnet
  5. 5
    cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner wordnet
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    provide the needed stimulus for wordnet
  2. 7
    cause to occur rapidly wordnet
  3. 8
    stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of wordnet
  4. 9
    stir feelings in wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
exciteanimatearouseencourageenergiseenergize

Example

More examples

"Teachers stimulate the students' interest, have them think, ask questions, and debate among themselves."

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin stimulus Latin stimulo Latin stimulatusbor. English stimulate Borrowed from Latin stimulātus, perfect passive participle of stimulō (“to urge, goad on”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from Latin stimulus (“a sting or prick; a stimulus, goad”).

Related phrases

colony-stimulating factorfollicle stimulating hormonefollicle-stimulating hormonegranulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factormelanocyte-stimulating hormoneself-stimulatethyroid-stimulating hormone

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