rouse
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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rouses,
present (3rd person singular)
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roused,
past participle, past
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rousing
present participle
-
to bring out of a state of sleep, unconsciousness, inactivity, fancied security, apathy, depression, etc..
He was roused to action by courageous words.
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to stir or incite to strong indignation or anger.
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to cause (game) to start from a covert or lair.
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Nautical Now Rare. to pull by main strength; haul.
verb (used without object)
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rouses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
roused,
past participle, past
-
rousing
present participle
-
to come out of a state of sleep, unconsciousness, inactivity, apathy, depression, etc.
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to start up from a covert or lair, as game.
noun
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a rousing.
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a signal for rousing; reveille.
noun
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Archaic. a carouse.
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Obsolete. a bumper of liquor.
verb
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to bring (oneself or another person) out of sleep, unconsciousness, etc, or (of a person) to come to consciousness in this way
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(tr) to provoke, stir, or excite
to rouse someone's anger
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to become active or energetic
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hunting to start or cause to start from cover
to rouse game birds
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(intr) falconry (of hawks) to ruffle the feathers and cause them to stand briefly on end (a sign of contentment)
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to speak scoldingly or rebukingly (to)
noun
noun
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an alcoholic drink, esp a full measure
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another word for carousal
Synonym Usage
See incite.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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rousesimple
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rousessimple
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have rousedperfect
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has rousedperfect
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am rousingprogressive
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are rousingprogressive
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is rousingprogressive
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have been rousingperfect progressive
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has been rousingperfect progressive
Past
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rousedsimple
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had rousedperfect
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was rousingprogressive
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were rousingprogressive
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had been rousingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rouse1
First recorded in 1425–75 in sense “(of a hawk) to shake the feathers”; 1525–35 rouse 1 for def. 3; origin uncertain
Origin of rouse2
First recorded in 1590–1600; perhaps variant of carouse ( drink carouse being wrongly analyzed as drink a rouse )
Explanation
When someone calls out "rise and shine," they are trying to rouse you, to make you wake up. It's thought that the word rouse was originally a 15th-century term used by hawkers for the way the birds shook out their feathers when agitated. That gives a nice mental picture to the word, and it does fit: rouse means to become awake, excited, or just plain keyed up, like those birds ruffling their feathers. Consider that when first roused in the morning, many people have to shake themselves to get ready to face the day.
Vocabulary lists containing rouse
The Best Starting Words for Wordle
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act IV
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Native Son
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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:
In his defence, Malema told the court the firearm was not his and that he had fired the shots to rouse the crowd, South African news site SowetanLIVE reported at the time.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
However, if the U.S. bats do not rouse from their slumber, the championship game will be a game the Americans curse forever.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026
Product designers are coming up with novel ways to rouse deep sleepers that border on diabolical, including clocks that deliver 300-volt electric shocks and donate snoozers’ money to charity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
The 40-year-old Wawrinka must try and rouse himself on his Australian Open farewell after a gruelling five-set win in round two.
From Barron's ● Jan. 24, 2026
I tried to rouse him and get him to finish his work, but it was obvious he couldn’t do it, so I helped him stand and told him I would assist him home.
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
She slumps over a cloth in the arms of a caretaker with her eyes closed, but rouses when another person brings her what appears to be raw meat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
January is an odd month in the art world, as it rouses itself from its holiday slumber but struggles to shake off the sleepiness of the past month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
In Ridley Scott’s 1979 film “Alien,” the crew of the Nostromo rouses from slumber to answer a distress call that spells their doom.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2025
Wearing crisp white shirts and matching red ties, the band rouses the congregation with melodic exaltations and a crash of symbols.
From Reuters ● Jul. 21, 2023
Just before dusk, he rouses Booth and helps him down the stairs and up into the saddle.
From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly
Earlier that same night, his main rival Jonas Vingegaard was also roused from sleep outside normal testing hours for a control around 2 a.m.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Pro-business Paz took office in November promising to resolve the country's worst economic crisis in decades, but his unpopular economic reforms and failure to respond to social demands have roused public ire.
From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026
That includes my first wilderness campsite near Ford Point, where a several-thousand-pound elephant seal roused me from slumber with its jarring bark.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
Jones' performance was the type that can have a lasting effect on a fighter's career but he and Wood roused the fans on a night when the atmosphere was sometimes flat at the O2 Arena.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
The refreshing meal, the brilliant fire, the presence and kindness of her beloved instructress, or, perhaps, more than all these, something in her own unique mind, had roused her powers within her.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
A couple of rousing performances in group play and a win over a third-place team in the first elimination game had the U.S. believing, had the U.S. hoping.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
Comprising over 300 works, spread over two levels of the Grand Palais, “Matisse: 1941-1954” is a rousing reminder that he went on making significant oil-on-canvas works until the early 1950s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
That’s not exactly the kind of rousing Churchillian attitude that fans back home are hoping for.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
It was in early 2024 that he gave a rousing speech to the Commons that some even regarded as the speech of his life.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
His followers broke into a rousing chorus of “America the Beautiful.”
From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman
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.
