animate

American  

[an-uh-mayt, an-uh-mit] / ˈæn əˌmeɪt, ˈæn ə mɪt /

verb (used with object)

• animates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• animated,
  past participle,  past
• animating
  present participle

1. to give life to; make alive.

   God animated the dust.

   Synonyms:

   vitalize, quicken, vivify

   Antonyms:

   kill

2. to make lively, vivacious, or vigorous; give zest or spirit to.

   Her presence animated the party.

   Synonyms:

   fortify, energize

3. to fill with courage or boldness; encourage.

   to animate weary troops.

   Synonyms:

   exhilarate, arouse, hearten, inspirit, inspire

4. to move or stir to action; motivate.

   He was animated by religious zeal.

   Synonyms:

   prompt, kindle, urge, fire, incite, excite

5. to give motion to.

   leaves animated by a breeze.

6. to render or produce (a story, character, movie, etc.) by using animation: to animate the characters in a video game;

   to animate a children's story;

   to animate the characters in a video game;

   an animated film.

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adjective

1. alive; possessing life.

   animate creatures.

   Antonyms:

   dead

2. lively.

   an animate expression of joy.

3. of or relating to animal life.

4. able to move voluntarily.

5. Linguistics. belonging to a syntactic category or having a semantic feature that is characteristic of words denoting beings regarded as having perception and volition (opposed to inanimate).

animate British  

verb

1. to give life to or cause to come alive

2. to make lively; enliven

3. to encourage or inspire

4. to impart motion to; move to action or work

5. to record on film or video tape so as to give movement to

   an animated cartoon

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adjective

1. being alive or having life

2. gay, spirited, or lively

Usage

What does animate mean? To animate is to make lively or give spirit to. Someone can animate a dull situation by bringing some energy to it, such as with humor, music, or anything that is associated with movement or emotion. To animate also means to give motion to, the way a cartoonist or animator does with drawings. Animated media include cartoons, 3D films, video games, and visual effects. To animate also means to motivate or to encourage to take action, as in Coach really animated the team with her pre-game speech. Animate can be used as an adjective to mean lively or full of energy, as in Carly had an animate spirit that people liked to be around. Animate can also mean able to move voluntarily. It can also broadly describe any living being as separate from inanimate objects, which cannot move on their own and don’t have their own will. When animate is used as an adjective, it is pronounced as [ an-uh-mit ], rather than [ an-uh-meyt ], as the verb form is. Example: I animate characters for children’s shows using a computer program.

Synonym Usage

Animate, invigorate, stimulate mean to enliven. To animate is to create a liveliness: Health and energy animated his movements. To invigorate means to give physical vigor, to refresh, to exhilarate: Mountain air invigorates. To stimulate is to arouse a latent liveliness on a particular occasion: Caffeine will stimulate you and keep you alert.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• animacy
  noun
• animateness
  noun
• interanimate
  verb (used with object)
• nonanimate
  adjective
• nonanimating
  adjective
• semianimate
  adjective
• unanimating
  adjective
• animately
  adverb
• animatingly
  adverb
• nonanimatingly
  adverb
• unanimatingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• animating
  present
• animated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• animate
  simple
• animates
  simple
• have animated
  perfect
• has animated
  perfect
• am animating
  progressive
• are animating
  progressive
• is animating
  progressive
• have been animating
  perfect progressive
• has been animating
  perfect progressive

Past

• animated
  simple
• had animated
  perfect
• was animating
  progressive
• were animating
  progressive
• had been animating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will animate
  simple
• will have animated
  perfect
• will be animating
  progressive
• will have been animating
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of animate

1375–1425; late Middle English animat < Latin animātus filled with breath or air, quickened, animated (past participle of animāre ). See anima, -ate ¹

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Explanation

At its most basic, animate means simply alive, while inanimate means not living, not moving around. But animate also means spirited, or brought to life. Animated cartoons are what we think of as pictures come to life: animation. Animate derives from the Latin anima "life, soul, spirit." When you seem particularly filled with life, or high-spirited, if you laugh loudly, or use broad gestures, you're animated.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

animate animates animated animating

Near-stillness is one of the hardest things to animate, Anderson pointed out.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

“What’s important is that it doesn’t replace the physical play. You want the technology to animate the player and to be shareable. If the Smart Play technology achieves that, it’ll be very sustainable.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

They just needed to submit photographs of themselves and their loved ones, and AI would then animate the material following specific prompts.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026

You are close to its trunk, experiencing its lofty height and its many branches spreading out like gesturing limbs of an animate creature.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

“Absolutely incredible. So—how does it work? Will all the images be this detailed? This colorful? Are you some kind of prodigy, destined to animate award-winning films for Disney?”

From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day

“Their hijacking of the public square is made possible by the original sin that animates their AI products — a brazen theft of intellectual property that has occurred at an unprecedented scale,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 2, 2026

Yet if “Born to Run” unexpectedly animates the pub jukebox, long dormant toes might start tapping, if only for a few wistful moments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026

The same logic animates the administration’s posture toward the Western Hemisphere.

From Barron's ● Mar. 20, 2026

Much has been written about right-wing women and what animates them.

From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2025

“Yeah. I’ve got this program that animates drawings. Every year I put together a movie of one year in the Delgado family. I thought it would be fun to include an animated clip of Tadeo.”

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko

The animated personal shopper that can also complete tasks like booking travel and making budgets has exploded in popularity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026

While most of his career was spent onstage, you’ll find his name in the credits of many films and shows and hear his baritone in a slew of video games and animated work.

From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026

Earlier this year, McLoughlin was also unveiled as a producer on an animated movie version of Bloodborne, one of the highest-rated video games of all time.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

The eligibility guidelines for the DGA’s top prize, directorial achievement in theatrical feature film, states that “re-releases, animated films, and documentaries are not eligible.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

Rasalas had been his favorite, and though the citizens of Weep had understood that the beast was only metal animated by Skathis’s mind, the understanding was buried under their terror.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Van der poel, Evenepoel, Wout van Aert, Paul Seixas and Pidcock were all there, all animating and pushing to breakaway from one another under gradually yellowing Canadian maples.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

Lixenberg’s photo series “Imperial Courts,” about residents of the Watts housing project, which she shot between 1993 and 2015, was likewise an animating factor behind the creative vision and legacy he wanted to build.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Democracy demands allegiance to ideals of human dignity and political equality, the protection of which is its animating purpose.

From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2026

Popular rule became the animating spirit of 1776, and it remains the reason why “Common Sense” still matters.

From Salon ● Jan. 10, 2026

With no less than the animating principle of the universe: “azoth,” the secret essence alchemists had sought for centuries.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

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Related Words

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