Meanings
present singular third person stimulates · participle present stimulating · participle past stimulated · past stimulated
- To encourage into action.
stimulate the economy
1 more example
To most others Lord Allerton's obvious preference for Mary would have been an insuperable obstacle; it only served to stimulate her ladyship.
1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 18Synonyms: encourage, induce, incite, provoke, abet, actuate, goose, fuel
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo encourage into action.
verbTo arouse an organism to functional activity.
More synonyms by meaning
verbstir the feelings, emotions, or peace of
verbcause to be alert and energetic
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)tey-?
- Latinstimulus
- Latinstimulo
- Latinstimulatus
- Englishstimulate
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”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἐρεθίζω
- ἐρεθίζω (erethízō)to encourage into action
Bulgarian подбу́ждам, стимулирам
- подбу́ждам (podbúždam)to encourage into action
- стимулирам (stimuliram)to arouse an organism to functional activity
Catalan estimular, estimular
- estimularto encourage into action
- estimularto arouse an organism to functional activity
Chinese Mandarin 刺激, 刺激
- 刺激 (cìjī)to encourage into action
- 刺激 (cìjī)to arouse an organism to functional activity
Czech podnítit
- podnítitto encourage into action
Dutch stimuleren, aansporen
- stimulerento encourage into action
- aansporento encourage into action
- prikkelento encourage into action
- stimulerento arouse an organism to functional activity
- prikkelento arouse an organism to functional activity
Esperanto stimuli, stimuli
- stimulito encourage into action
- stimulito arouse an organism to functional activity
Finnish piristää, yllyttää
- piristääto encourage into action
- yllyttääto encourage into action
- ärsyttääto encourage into action
- elvyttääto encourage into action
- stimuloidato encourage into action
- kiihottaato arouse an organism to functional activity
- elvyttääto arouse an organism to functional activity
- stimuloidato arouse an organism to functional activity
French stimuler, stimuler
- stimulerto encourage into action
- stimulerto arouse an organism to functional activity
German stimulieren, stimulieren
- stimulierento encourage into action
- stimulierento arouse an organism to functional activity
Greek παρακινώ, παροτρύνω
- παρακινώ (parakinó)to encourage into action
- παροτρύνω (parotrýno)to encourage into action
- διεγείρω (diegeíro)to arouse an organism to functional activity
Hungarian elősegít
- elősegítto encourage into action
Italian stimolare, stimolare
- stimolareto encourage into action
- stimolareto arouse an organism to functional activity
Japanese 刺激する, 刺激する
- 刺激する (shigeki suru)to encourage into action
- 刺激する (shigeki suru)to arouse an organism to functional activity
Latin commoveō
- commoveōto encourage into action
Māori whakahohe, whakaihiihi
- whakahoheto encourage into action
- whakaihiihito encourage into action
- whakahihikoto encourage into action
- whakamanawato encourage into action
Persian انگیختن, برانگیختن
- انگیختنto encourage into action
- برانگیختنto encourage into action
- تَحرِیک کردنto encourage into action
- تَشوِیق کردنto encourage into action
- تحریکیدنto arouse an organism to functional activity
Polish stymulować
- stymulowaćto encourage into action
Portuguese estimular, incentivar
- estimularto encourage into action
- incentivarto encourage into action
- estimularto arouse an organism to functional activity
Romanian stimula, stimula
- stimulato encourage into action
- stimulato arouse an organism to functional activity
Russian стимули́ровать, стимули́ровать
- стимули́ровать (stimulírovatʹ)to encourage into action
- стимули́ровать (stimulírovatʹ)to arouse an organism to functional activity
Spanish estimular, estimular
- estimularto encourage into action
- estimularto arouse an organism to functional activity
Swedish egga, reta
- eggato encourage into action
- retato encourage into action
- sporrato encourage into action
- ge näring åtto arouse an organism to functional activity
- pigga uppto arouse an organism to functional activity
- stimulerato arouse an organism to functional activity
- väckato arouse an organism to functional activity
Ukrainian стимулюва́ти, збу́джувати
- стимулюва́ти (stymuljuváty)to encourage into action
- збу́джувати (zbúdžuvaty)to arouse an organism to functional activity
- збуди́ти (zbudýty)to arouse an organism to functional activity
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
stimulate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stimulate
“stimulate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stimulate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stimulate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stimulate.
Source: stimulate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.