Stimulate
What it means
To encourage activity, growth, thought, or interest.
Reach for it when describing what encourages thought, interest, growth, demand, or useful activity
The puzzle will stimulate creative thinking.
Words to choose between 7
| playful | |
|---|---|
| everyday | |
| warm | |
| professional | |
| formal |
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playful
Fits when fresh vigor is the desired effect on people or work
Careful It does not fit quiet intellectual interest or measured economic activity.
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everyday
spur
Fits when urgency or competition pushes faster action
Careful Spur suggests pressure and pace that a reflective stimulus may not have.
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warm
Fits when supportive influence helps a person or process develop
Careful Encourage is gentler and less direct than a stimulus that increases activity.
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warm
Fits when imagination or purpose moves people to create or act
Careful Economic demand and biological growth can be stimulated without inspiration.
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professional
Fits when a dormant mechanism or process is switched into operation
Careful Thought can be stimulated without having been inactive.
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professional
Fits when conditions support gradual growth over time
Careful Foster is indirect and sustained; stimulate can describe one immediate cause.
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formal
provoke
Fits when a question deliberately elicits thought or reaction
Careful Provoke often carries conflict or annoyance, unlike positive stimulation.
Opposites 3
- suppress
- dampen
- inhibit
Common phrases 3
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stimulate growth
New apprenticeships could stimulate growth in the repair sector.
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stimulate discussion
The case study should stimulate discussion about fair access.
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stimulate interest
Hands-on demonstrations stimulate interest more effectively than a brochure.
Word family 1
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Dvortygirl, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Updated