excite

[ ik-sahyt ]

verb (used with object)

, ex·cit·ed, ex·cit·ing.

1. to arouse or stir up the emotions or feelings of:

   to excite a person to anger; actions that excited his father's wrath.

   Synonyms: inflame, kindle, animate, stimulate, awaken, stir

2. to arouse or stir up (emotions or feelings):

   to excite jealousy or hatred.

   Synonyms: evoke

3. to cause; awaken:

   to excite interest or curiosity.

4. to stir to action; provoke or stir up:

   to excite a dog by baiting him.

   Synonyms: ruffle, agitate, disturb

5. Physiology. to stimulate:

   to excite a nerve.

6. Electricity. to supply with electricity for producing electric activity or a magnetic field:

   to excite a dynamo.

7. Physics. to raise (an atom, molecule, etc.) to an excited state.

excite

/ ɪkˈsaɪt /

verb

1. to arouse (a person) to strong feeling, esp to pleasurable anticipation or nervous agitation
2. to arouse or elicit (an emotion, response, etc); evoke

   her answers excited curiosity

3. to cause or bring about; stir up

   to excite a rebellion

4. to arouse sexually
5. physiol to cause a response in or increase the activity of (an organ, tissue, or part); stimulate
6. to raise (an atom, molecule, electron, nucleus, etc) from the ground state to a higher energy level
7. to supply electricity to (the coils of a generator or motor) in order to create a magnetic field
8. to supply a signal to a stage of an active electronic circuit

Other Words From

• preex·cite verb (used with object) preexcited preexciting

Word History and Origins

Origin of excite¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Latin excitāre, from ex- ex- ¹ + citāre “to move repeatedly, set in motion, summon” (from ciēre “to arouse, cause to go, move”)

Word History and Origins

Origin of excite¹

C14: from Latin excitāre, from exciēre to stimulate, from ciēre to set in motion, rouse

Example Sentences

They excite people, and primaries tend to be dominated by voters who are the most excited.

From The Daily Beast

Sticks and stones may break my bones / but chains and whips excite me.

From The Daily Beast

Condon is proud to be different, to work on the projects that excite him.

From The Daily Beast

“Contact tracing” sounds like something that would excite only the grimmest of health-care operations implementation scientists.

From The Daily Beast

Aurora Snow canvassed the adult industry to see which television shows excite its XXX talent.

From The Daily Beast

When he came out on the stage the applause was tremendous, and enough in itself to excite and electrify one.

From Project Gutenberg

But the observation he thoughtlessly uttered in French seemed to excite the peasant's attention.

From Project Gutenberg

If a merry dance is produced by the agile bow, its sympathetic tones at once excite a corresponding feeling.

From Project Gutenberg

We don't even have real big prizes—just a dinky little spoon sitting up on the mantel-piece to excite us as if it was a tiara.

From Project Gutenberg

The man called Shiv was driving Delancy's get-away car at a conservative pace so as not to excite suspicion.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• agitate
• amaze
• anger
• animate
• annoy
• astound
• bother
• delight
• disturb
• energize
• irritate
• offend
• thrill
• turn on
• vex
• work up
• worry