Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An agent, especially a chemical agent such as caffeine, that temporarily arouses or accelerates physiological or organic activity.
  • noun A stimulus or an incentive.
  • noun A food or drink, especially an alcoholic drink, believed to have a stimulating effect.
  • adjective Serving as or being a stimulus; stimulating.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Stimulating; serving to stimulate, incite, or provoke; specifically, in physiology, temporarily quickening some functional or trophic process.
  • noun That which stimulates, provokes, or incites; a stimulus; a spur.
  • noun In physiology, an agent which temporarily quickens some functional or trophic process.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Serving to stimulate.
  • adjective (Physiol.) Produced increased vital action in the organism, or in any of its parts.
  • noun That which stimulates, provokes, or excites.
  • noun (Physiol. & Med.) An agent which produces a temporary increase of vital activity in the organism, or in any of its parts; -- sometimes used without qualification to signify an alcoholic beverage used as a stimulant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A substance that acts to increase physiological or nervous activity in the body.
  • noun Something that promotes activity, interest, or enthusiasm.
  • adjective Acting as a stimulant.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective that stimulates
  • noun a drug that temporarily quickens some vital process
  • noun any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action

Etymologies

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