English Explanatory Dictionary

excite

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb

To stir the emotions of; to cause to feel excitement.
To arouse or bring out (e.g. feelings); to stimulate.
To cause an electron to move to a higher than normal state; to promote an electron to an outer level.
To energize (an electromagnet); to produce a magnetic field in.

Pronunciation

ĭk-sītʹ /ɪkˈsaɪt/ en-us-excite.ogg

Word forms

excite excites exciting excited no-table-tags glossary excitest excitedst exciteth

Etymology

From Middle English exciten, from Old French exciter, from Latin excitō (“to call out, call forth, arouse, wake up, stimulate”), frequentative of excieō (“to call out, arouse, excite”), from ex (“out”) + cieō (“to call, summon”). See cite and compare to accite, concite, incite.

Synonyms

affect move touch instigate fire provoke abet actuate goose light a fire under send sting bring about cheer draw drive encourage egg on engender evoke excite foment goad grill ignite impel incite induce inflame invoke lash motive motivate obligate oblige push promote prompt rouse set off spark off spur spur on stimulate stir stir up stoke tempt urge whet whip up animate awaken electrify enflame enkindle enthrill exagitate exhilarate exsuscitate

Antonyms

relax calm

Related words

excitement excitation

Derived words

deexcite excitability excitable excitative exciteful excitive exciton excitosome excitron overexcite photoexcite preexcite self-excite sexcite superexcite

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

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