STIMULATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does stimulate mean? 

• STIMULATE (verb)
  The verb STIMULATE has 7 senses:

1. act as a stimulant

2. cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner

3. stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of

4. cause to be alert and energetic

5. cause to occur rapidly

6. stir feelings in

7. provide the needed stimulus for

  Familiarity information: STIMULATE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STIMULATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they stimulate    ... he / she / it stimulates   
Past simple: stimulated   
Past participle: stimulated   
-ing form: stimulating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Act as a stimulant

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

excite; stimulate

Context example:

This play stimulates

Hypernyms (to "stimulate" is one way to...):

affect; bear on; bear upon; impact; touch; touch on (have an effect upon)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stimulate"):

invigorate; quicken (give life or energy to)

innervate (stimulate to action)

irritate (excite to some characteristic action or condition, such as motion, contraction, or nervous impulse, by the application of a stimulus)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Antonym:

stifle (suppress or constrain so as to lessen in intensity)

Derivation:

stimulant (any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action)

stimulant (that stimulates)

stimulative (capable of arousing or accelerating physiological or psychological activity or response by a chemical agent)

stimulus (any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

cause; get; have; induce; make; stimulate

Context example:

My wife made me buy a new sofa

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stimulate"):

encourage (spur on)

compel; obligate; oblige (force somebody to do something)

suborn (induce to commit perjury or give false testimony)

inspire; instigate; prompt (serve as the inciting cause of)

lead (cause to undertake a certain action)

let (actively cause something to happen)

solicit (incite, move, or persuade to some act of lawlessness or insubordination)

bring (induce or persuade)

persuade (cause somebody to adopt a certain position, belief, or course of action; twist somebody's arm)

decide (cause to decide)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s somebody INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They stimulate him to write the letter

Derivation:

stimulation (the act of arousing an organism to action)

stimulation; stimulus (any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

excite; shake; shake up; stimulate; stir

Context example:

the civil war shook the country

Hypernyms (to "stimulate" is one way to...):

arouse; elicit; enkindle; evoke; fire; kindle; provoke; raise (call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stimulate"):

titillate (excite pleasurably or erotically)

animate; enliven; exalt; inspire; invigorate (heighten or intensify)

elate; intoxicate; lift up; pick up; uplift (fill with high spirits; fill with optimism)

invite; tempt (give rise to a desire by being attractive or inviting)

thrill; tickle; vibrate (feel sudden intense sensation or emotion)

affright; fright; frighten; scare (cause fear in)

arouse; excite; sex; turn on; wind up (stimulate sexually)

fuel (stimulate)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to stimulate Sue

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cause to be alert and energetic

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

arouse; brace; energise; energize; perk up; stimulate

Context example:

This herbal infusion doesn't stimulate

Hypernyms (to "stimulate" is one way to...):

affect (act physically on; have an effect upon)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stimulate"):

animate; quicken; reanimate; recreate; renovate; repair; revive; revivify; vivify (give new life or energy to)

cathect (inject with libidinal energy)

animate; enliven; invigorate; liven; liven up (make lively)

invigorate; reinvigorate (impart vigor, strength, or vitality to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Antonym:

sedate (cause to be calm or quiet as by administering a sedative to)

Derivation:

stimulant (a drug that temporarily quickens some vital process)

stimulative (capable of arousing or accelerating physiological or psychological activity or response by a chemical agent)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Cause to occur rapidly

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

hasten; induce; rush; stimulate

Context example:

the infection precipitated a high fever and allergic reactions

Hypernyms (to "stimulate" is one way to...):

effect; effectuate; set up (produce)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Stir feelings in

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

excite; stimulate; stir

Context example:

stir emotions

Hypernyms (to "stimulate" is one way to...):

sensitise; sensitize (cause to sense; make sensitive)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stimulate"):

fuck off; jack off; jerk off; masturbate; she-bop; wank (get sexual gratification through self-stimulation)

masturbate (stimulate sexually)

horripilate (cause (someone's) hair to stand on end and to have goosebumps)

work (provoke or excite)

blow; fellate; go down on; suck (provide sexual gratification through oral stimulation)

thrill (cause to be thrilled by some perceptual input)

quicken; whet (make keen or more acute)

disgust; gross out; repel; revolt (fill with distaste)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

stimulant (that stimulates)

stimulative (capable of arousing or accelerating physiological or psychological activity or response by a chemical agent)

stimulus (any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Provide the needed stimulus for

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

provoke; stimulate

Hypernyms (to "stimulate" is one way to...):

challenge (issue a challenge to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stimulate"):

agitate; foment; stir up (try to stir up public opinion)

incite; instigate; set off; stir up (provoke or stir up)

jog (stimulate to remember)

entice; lure; tempt (provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion)

rejuvenate (cause (a stream or river) to erode, as by an uplift of the land)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

stimulant (that stimulates)

stimulus (any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action)

 Context examples 

On January 24, your annual new moon in Aquarius will arrive and stimulate your romantic life.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

In biology, to stimulate a cell in a resting state to become active.

(Activate, NCI Dictionary)

To cause something to start or to stimulate activity.

(Activation, NCI Thesaurus)

However, those taken from HSD mice did not dilate properly when stimulated to do so.

(Hold the salt: gut reaction may impair the brains of mice, National Institutes of Health)

Their results suggest that forgetting during sleep may be controlled by neurons found deep inside the brain that were previously known for making an appetite stimulating hormone.

(The brain may actively forget during dream sleep, National Institutes of Health)

The results indicate that the therapeutic molecule is capable of modulating the multiprotein complex for CoQ10 biosynthesis, so that endogenous CoQ10 synthesis is stimulated.

(A new pharmacological therapy against a severe kind of deficiency in Coenzyme Q10, University of Granada)

VLP stimulates the immune system and promotes the CTL response.

(Melan-A VLP Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

Music works on a nerve that stimulates the gastrointestinal system, causes vasodilation, and increases intestinal absorption in animals.

(Music believed to boost hypertension treatment, Agenciabrasil/EBC)

I stimulated myself into such a heat, and got so out of breath, that I felt as if I had been earning I don't know how much.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Oh! if he should be so far stimulated by your genius as to learn to draw himself, how delightful it would be!

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)