Meanings
plural stimmers
- autismhuman sciencesOne who engages in stimming behaviour.
Cam is a first-class stimmer. The stims have passed through stages, each more obsessive than the last.
2010, Mark Osteen, One of Us: A Family's Life with Autism, page 1482 more examples
Most people probably wouldn't guess either of them had autism since they are both so high functioning; Dillon is a “stimmer” though—lots of hand flapping.
2006, Donna Satterlee Ross, Kelly Ann Jolly, editors, That's Life with Autism: Tales and Tips for Families with Autism, page 125We are also perpetual stimmers: displaying or masking our stims, engaging in self-injurious or artistic stims, creatively expressing ourselves, or responding to trauma or stim suppression.
2021, Erin Felepchuk, “Stimming, Improvisation, and COVID-19: (Re)negotiating Autistic Sensory Regulation During a Pandemic”, in Disability Studies Quarterly, volume 41, number 3, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2022
Origin
From stim (“to perform a repetitive self-stimulating action”) + -er.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
stimmer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stimmer
“stimmer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stimmer. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stimmer,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stimmer.
Source: stimmer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.