excite
Americanverb (used with object)
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excites,
present (3rd person singular)
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excited,
past participle, past
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exciting
present participle
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to arouse or stir up the emotions or feelings of.
to excite a person to anger; actions that excited his father's wrath.
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to arouse or stir up (emotions or feelings).
to excite jealousy or hatred.
- Synonyms:
- evoke
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to cause; awaken.
to excite interest or curiosity.
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to stir to action; provoke or stir up.
to excite a dog by baiting him.
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Physiology. to stimulate.
to excite a nerve.
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Electricity. to supply with electricity for producing electric activity or a magnetic field.
to excite a dynamo.
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Physics. to raise (an atom, molecule, etc.) to an excited state.
verb
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to arouse (a person) to strong feeling, esp to pleasurable anticipation or nervous agitation
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to arouse or elicit (an emotion, response, etc); evoke
her answers excited curiosity
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to cause or bring about; stir up
to excite a rebellion
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to arouse sexually
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physiol to cause a response in or increase the activity of (an organ, tissue, or part); stimulate
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to raise (an atom, molecule, electron, nucleus, etc) from the ground state to a higher energy level
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to supply electricity to (the coils of a generator or motor) in order to create a magnetic field
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to supply a signal to a stage of an active electronic circuit
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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excitesimple
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excitessimple
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have excitedperfect
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has excitedperfect
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am excitingprogressive
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are excitingprogressive
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is excitingprogressive
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have been excitingperfect progressive
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has been excitingperfect progressive
Past
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excitedsimple
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had excitedperfect
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was excitingprogressive
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were excitingprogressive
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had been excitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of excite
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”)
Explanation
To excite is to stimulate, animate, or energize. The return of your favorite TV show might excite you, and winning millions of dollars in the lottery will definitely excite you. While a new book by a beloved author excites one person, and an extra scoop of ice cream excites another, it might take something like a free trip to Hawaii to excite you. In quantum mechanics, the word excite takes on a more scientific meaning: to raise something, like an atom or an electron, to a higher level of energy. The Latin root of excite is excitare, "rouse, call out, or summon forth."
Vocabulary lists containing excite
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
George Gianarikas, a bullish analyst at Canaccord, told MarketWatch earlier this week that announcing an expansion into multiple markets with more than just a few Cybercabs in each would excite investors.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026
Banal pandemic analogy aside, “The Last House” is similarly built around an intentionally repetitive plot and thrills that rarely manage to excite or surprise the viewer.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
"I have no desire or ambition to be president of FIFA. That doesn't excite me," he said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Originally from Croydon, Burley revealed he found The Darling Buds of May easier to write than to cast, with the role of Mariette proving especially hard as "lots of young actresses just didn't excite us".
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
I had grown used to moving suddenly and the prospects of another trip did not excite me.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
When you think about someone eventually carrying on the “Survivor” legacy, is that something that excites you?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
“But it excites me that young directors are exploring the genre’s possibilities.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
The key to the style of campaigning that won out on Tuesday, according to Andrabi, is having a vision for what politics can deliver that excites people.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
"I'm excited now because I'm not 'Lucy the footballer' anymore. It might be hard to come to terms with down the line, but at the moment, it just excites me."
From BBC ● May 7, 2026
Only death consistently excites your emotions, whether contemplating it when life is safe and stale, or fleeing it when life is threatened and precious.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
“It’s like a social contract to be a good human once you get in, because everybody’s been excited to be there,” said Audrey Fix Schaefer, the communications director for the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
And if he did all the things that you wished he did, would you feel as excited about your childhood crush?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
There is no need to wait for excited electrons to fall back to lower energy levels.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
Public affairs analyst Jamil Ubah said he had rarely seen Nigerians as excited about something as this.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
“Hurry, Handsome! I have something wonderful to show you! If you were excited about exploring before, you will be even more excited once you climb up here!”
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
Alejandro Del Rey, JJ Spaun and Johannes Veerman are one shot behind with an exciting finish in store on Sunday.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
“A lot of that infrastructure was not especially exciting to investors for years,” he added.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026
"We have taken an important step towards carrying out an exciting experiment on this topic," says the professor of physics: "We want to measure the gravitational interaction of the muon."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
In his free time, he dug deeper into AI, believing it was the most exciting opportunity on the planet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
It was as if all of the interesting ideas and exciting projects that had been running around in my head forever had just evaporated.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
