excite
[ik-sahyt]
- to arouse or stir up the emotions or feelings of: to excite a person to anger; actions that excited his father's wrath.
- to arouse or stir up (emotions or feelings): to excite jealousy or hatred.
- to cause; awaken: to excite interest or curiosity.
- to stir to action; provoke or stir up: to excite a dog by baiting him.
- Physiology. to stimulate: to excite a nerve.
- Electricity. to supply with electricity for producing electric activity or a magnetic field: to excite a dynamo.
- Physics. to raise (an atom, molecule, etc.) to an excited state.
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Origin of excite
1300–50; Middle English < Latin excitāre, equivalent to ex- ex-1 + citāre, frequentative of ciēre to set in motion
Synonyms
See more synonyms for excite on Thesaurus.com1. stir, awaken, stimulate, animate, kindle, inflame. 2. evoke. 4. disturb, agitate, ruffle.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for excite
Contemporary Examples
They excite people, and primaries tend to be dominated by voters who are the most excited.
Condon is proud to be different, to work on the projects that excite him.
The innovation Ohanian sees in new entrepreneurs seems to excite him most.
“You have to have some issue to excite the voters,” he says.
He called Obama "Kommandant" and a "socialistic dictator" to excite those on the right.
Historical Examples
Supposing—— It was cruel to excite and upset her just for that; it made the pain worse.
Life and Death of Harriett FreanMay Sinclair
He should therefore smile at the futile attempt to excite his jealousy.
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
An outlandish appearance, sure to excite observation, is thus avoided.
The Roof of FranceMatilda Betham-Edwards
The opinion of numbers is necessary to excite the ambition of individuals.
Tales And Novels, Volume 8 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
There was no reason therefore why our appearance should excite suspicion.
Micah ClarkeArthur Conan Doyle
excite
- to arouse (a person) to strong feeling, esp to pleasurable anticipation or nervous agitation
- to arouse or elicit (an emotion, response, etc); evokeher answers excited curiosity
- to cause or bring about; stir upto excite a rebellion
- to arouse sexually
- physiol to cause a response in or increase the activity of (an organ, tissue, or part); stimulate
- to raise (an atom, molecule, electron, nucleus, etc) from the ground state to a higher energy level
- to supply electricity to (the coils of a generator or motor) in order to create a magnetic field
- to supply a signal to a stage of an active electronic circuit
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin excitāre, from exciēre to stimulate, from ciēre to set in motion, rouse
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for excite
v.
mid-14c., "to move, stir up, instigate," from Old French esciter (12c.) or directly from Latin excitare "rouse, call out, summon forth, produce," frequentative of exciere "call forth, instigate," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + ciere "set in motion, call" (see cite). Of feelings, from late 14c. Of bodily organs or tissues, from 1831. Main modern sense of "emotionally agitate" is first attested 1821.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper