excitant

[ ik-sahyt-nt, ek-si-tuhnt ]

adjective

1. exciting; excite; stimulating.

noun

1. Physiology. something that excites; a stimulant.

excitant

/ ɪkˈsaɪtənt; ˈɛksɪtənt /

adjective

1. able to excite or stimulate

noun

1. something, such as a drug or other agent, able to excite; stimulant

Word History and Origins

Origin of excitant¹

1600–10; < Latin excitant- (stem of excitāns ), present participle of excitāre. See excite, -ant

Example Sentences

Their gestures were lost in the tumult and the darkness; what the crowd did see seemed to act only as an excitant.

From Project Gutenberg

The child's song had been an excitant to the memory in recalling those first years in Auvergne.

From Project Gutenberg

There was a readiness and suggestibility to respond to rumor or to the least excitant.

From Project Gutenberg

A smell of musk is also given off by several plants: it is a sexual excitant in the musk-deer, the musk-sheep, and the crocodile.

From Project Gutenberg

The influence of dreams as an excitant of muscular movement will be hereafter discussed.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• desire
• feeling
• inclination
• influence
• instinct
• motivation
• motive
• notion
• passion
• thought
• whim
• wish