arousal

English

Etymology

From arouse +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈɹaʊzəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊzəl

Noun

arousal (plural arousals)

1. The act of arousing or the state of being aroused.

   bodily arousal

   emotional arousal

   to influence the arousal of brain and behavior

2. Sexual arousal.

   Some people get arousal from the depiction of feet.

3. A physiological and psychological state of being awake or reactive to stimuli, including elevated heart rate and blood pressure and a condition of sensory alertness, mobility and readiness to respond.
   • 2003, Jinhee Choi, "Fits and Startles: Cognitivism Revisited," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 61, no. 2 (Spring), p. 152,

     Subjects report the physiological arousals induced by adrenaline and placebo differently.

4. Arousal from sleep or hibernation.

   the mechanism for arousal from sleep

   The animal undergoes regular spells of arousal.

Synonyms

• (sexual arousal): horniness
• (state of being reactive to stimuli): alertness
• (arousal from sleep): wakefulness

Derived terms

• autoarousal
• hyperarousal
• hypoarousal
• microarousal
• nonarousal
• overarousal
• performance arousal
• persistent genital arousal disorder
• persistent sexual arousal syndrome
• pervasive arousal withdrawal syndrome
• rearousal
• underarousal

 

Translations

the act of arousing or the state of being aroused

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 覺醒／觉醒 (zh) (juéxǐng, jiàoxǐng), 喚起／唤起 (zh) (huànqǐ)

• Finnish: herääminen (fi), kiihottuminen
• French: éveil (fr)
• German: Erregung (de) f, Erregtsein n, Erregtheit f
• Italian: arrapamento m, eccitazione (it) f, foia f
• Japanese: 覚醒 (ja) (かくせい, kakusei), 喚起 (ja) (かんき, kanki)
• Portuguese: excitação (pt) f
• Russian: пробужде́ние (ru) n (probuždénije) (act of awakening), бо́дрствование (ru) n (bódrstvovanije) (state of being awake)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: узбуђење n

  Roman: uzbuđenje (sh) n

sexual arousal

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 激發／激发 (zh) (jīfā), 興奮／兴奋 (zh) (xīngfèn)

• Finnish: kiihottuminen
• French: excitation (fr)
• German: Erregung (de) f
• Japanese: 興奮 (ja) (こうふん, kōfun)
• Polish: pobudzenie (pl) n, podniecenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: excitação (pt) f, tesão (pt) m, tesão (pt) m or f
• Russian: возбужде́ние (ru) n (vozbuždénije)
• Spanish: excitación (es) f
• Tagalog: pagka-libog
• Ukrainian: збудження n (zbudžennja)

arousal from sleep or hibernation

• German: Aufweckung f, Aufwachen n, Erwachen (de) n, Wachwerden n
• Polish: przebudzenie n
• Portuguese: despertar (pt) m