rouse
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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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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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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are rousingprogressive
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am 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.
Another mall owner, General Growth Properties, bought Rouse in a $12.6 billion acquisition financed almost entirely by debt and later went bankrupt.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026
Rouse told the BBC he "would have preferred if those profits had been spent on Stoke-on-Trent's schools", but conceded that making money was part of the contract.
From BBC • Jan. 8, 2026
One victim was listed in Lenoir County, Lazarus Rouse on August 1, 1916, and one, Jerome Whitefield, on August 14, 1921, in Jones County.
From Salon • Apr. 18, 2025
Shortly after he announced his decision in an early morning news release, Democratic state Sen. Aaron Rouse formally announced his own candidacy for lieutenant governor.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 23, 2024
But I guess Mrs. Rouse is hard to trick, because she asked me, “How are you Iiking Johnny Tremain?”
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
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.
