excite

See also excité

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪt

Verb

excite (third-person singular simple present excites, present participle exciting, simple past and past participle excited)

1. (transitive) To stir the emotions of.

   The fireworks which opened the festivities excited anyone present.

2. (transitive) To arouse or bring out (eg feelings); to stimulate.

   Favoritism tends to excite jealousy in the ones not being favored.

   The political reforms excited unrest among to population.

   There are drugs designed to excite certain nerves in our body.

3. (transitive), (physics) To cause an electron to move to a higher than normal state; to promote an electron to an outer level.

   By applying electric potential to the neon atoms, the electrons become excited, then emit a photon when returning to normal.

Antonyms

• relax, calm

Related terms

• excitement

Translations

to stir the emotions of

• Bulgarian: вълнувам (bg) (vǎlnuvam)
• Czech: vzrušit (cs)
• Dutch: prikkelen (nl), opwinden (nl)
• Faroese: øsa (fo)
• Finnish: innostaa (fi), kiihottaa (fi)
• French: exciter (fr)

• German: erregen (de)
• Hebrew: הלהיב (he) (helhiv) m, עורר (he) (orer) m
• Icelandic: æsa (is)
• Japanese: 興奮させる (ja) (こうふんさせる, kōfun saseru)
• Latin: commoveō (la)
• Swahili: kusisimua (sw)

to arouse or bring out (eg feelings); to stimulate

• Bulgarian: подбуждам (bg) (podbuždam), стимулирам (bg) (stimuliram)
• Czech: podnítit (cs)
• Dutch: stimuleren (nl), prikkelen (nl)
• Finnish: herättää (fi), synnyttää (fi)
• French: exciter (fr)
• German: erregen, anregen (nerves)

• Hebrew: עורר (he) (orer) m, ליבה (he) (liba) m, דירבן (he) (dirben) m
• Japanese: 刺激する (ja) (しげきする, shigeki suru), 活性化させる (ja) (かっせいかさせる, kasseika saseru)
• Portuguese: provocar (pt)
• Swahili: kusisimua (sw)

to cause an electron to move to a higher than normal state

• Bulgarian: възбуждам (bg) (vǎzbuždam)
• Czech: excitovat (cs)
• Dutch: exciteren (nl)
• Finnish: virittää (fi)

• French: exciter (fr)
• Hebrew: עורר (he) (orer) m
• Japanese: 励起する (ja) (れいきする, reiki suru)
• Swahili: kusisimua (sw)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: აღელვება (ka) (aghelveba) , აღგზნება (ka) (aghgzneba) 
• Ido: ecitar

• Spanish: excitar

External links

• excite in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• excite in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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French

Verb

excite

1. first-person singular present indicative of exciter
2. third-person singular present indicative of exciter
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of exciter
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of exciter
5. second-person singular imperative of exciter

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Latin

Verb

excīte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of exciō

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Portuguese

Verb

excite

1. First-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of excitar
2. Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você^?) present subjunctive of excitar
3. Third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of excitar
4. Third-person singular (você) negative imperative of excitar

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Spanish

Verb

excite (infinitive excitar)

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of excitar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of excitar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of excitar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of excitar.