inspire
to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence: His courage inspired his followers.
to produce or arouse (a feeling, thought, etc.): to inspire confidence in others.
to fill or affect with a specified feeling, thought, etc.: to inspire a person with distrust.
to influence or impel: Competition inspired her to greater efforts.
to animate, as an influence, feeling, thought, or the like, does: They were inspired by a belief in a better future.
to communicate or suggest by a divine or supernatural influence: writings inspired by God.
to guide or control by divine influence.
to prompt or instigate (utterances, acts, etc.) by influence, without avowal of responsibility.
to give rise to, bring about, cause, etc.: a philosophy that inspired a revolution.
to take (air, gases, etc.) into the lungs in breathing; inhale.
Archaic.
to infuse (breath, life, etc.) by breathing (usually followed by into).
to breathe into or upon.
Origin of inspire
1Other words from inspire
- in·spir·a·tive [in-spahyuhr-uh-tiv, in-spi-rey-tiv], /ɪnˈspaɪər ə tɪv, ˈɪn spɪˌreɪ tɪv/, adjective
- in·spir·er, noun
- in·spir·ing·ly, adverb
- pre·in·spire, verb (used with object), pre·in·spired, pre·in·spir·ing.
- pseu·do·in·spir·ing, adjective
- re·in·spire, verb, re·in·spired, re·in·spir·ing.
- un·in·spir·ing, adjective
- un·in·spir·ing·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use inspire in a sentence
I want to make sure that the virtual platform is at a place and so efficient that a kid in India can tap in and be inspired.
Do says he was inspired to work on the SSD after spending many years working on surgical robots.
This artificial skin feels ‘ghosts’ — things you wish were there | Stephen Ornes | November 20, 2020 | Science News For StudentsAn additional two readers sent me their markets-inspired poems to share.
The great disconnect: Big cash is surging into the markets, and yet COVID is socking stocks | Bernhard Warner | November 20, 2020 | FortuneOur point is really to inspire them and to show them what is possible and what we can do to transform ourselves.
Leveraging collective intelligence and AI to benefit society | Jason Sparapani | November 18, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewIf we push further, the impossible can even inspire the creation of new mathematical worlds.
Some Math Problems Seem Impossible. That Can Be a Good Thing. | Patrick Honner | November 18, 2020 | Quanta Magazine
William Butler Yeats once called Carlyle “the chief inspirer of self-educated men.”
But for that, Mishkin would have succeeded, and the great inspirer of the youth of Russia would have been given back to the world.
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander BerkmanHe is the offspring of Heaven and Earth, the two worlds; is the inspirer of prayer and the guide and protector of the pious.
The priest was possibly his inspirer; but the priest came one day to the residencia.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI | Robert Louis StevensonBut, on the other hand, it is emphatically true that this same folk-music was to him a potent inspirer and trainer.
Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician | Frederick NiecksHe has been an inspiration to France, the inspirer of the nations.
American Sketches | Charles Whibley
British Dictionary definitions for inspire
/ (ɪnˈspaɪə) /
to exert a stimulating or beneficial effect upon (a person); animate or invigorate
(tr; foll by with or to; may take an infinitive) to arouse (with a particular emotion or to a particular action); stir
(tr) to prompt or instigate; give rise to: her beauty inspired his love
(tr; often passive) to guide or arouse by divine influence or inspiration
to take or draw (air, gas, etc) into the lungs; inhale
(tr) archaic
to breathe into or upon
to breathe life into
Origin of inspire
1Derived forms of inspire
- inspirable, adjective
- inspirative, adjective
- inspirer, noun
- inspiringly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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