arouse

verb
UK: /əˈraʊz/
US: /əˈraʊz/

  1. To cause someone to feel a particular emotion or reaction.

    1. The movie can arouse feelings of sadness in the audience. [ ] [ ]
    2. The speaker's passionate words aroused a sense of hope among the listeners. [ ] [ ]

  2. To awaken or excite sexually.

    1. Certain images may arouse some people. [ ] [ ]
    2. The romantic setting was designed to arouse feelings of desire. [ ] [ ]

  3. To stir up or awaken from sleep.

    1. The loud noise did arouse me from my nap. [ ] [ ]
    2. I tried not to arouse the baby when I entered the room. [ ] [ ]

Synonyms

awaken excite provoke stimulate stir up incite evoke generate
arouse transitive-verb

  1. To cause interest or excitement.

    1. That question did arouse my interest. [ ] [ ]
    2. The proposal aroused considerable excitement within the community. [ ] [ ]

Frequently Asked Questions

The word "arouse" in English means: To cause someone to feel a particular emotion or reaction., To awaken or excite sexually., To stir up or awaken from sleep..

The phonetic transcription of "arouse" is /əˈraʊz/ in British English and /əˈraʊz/ in American English. Click the 🔊 button to hear both pronunciations.

Synonyms for "arouse": awaken, excite, provoke, stimulate, stir up, incite, evoke, generate.

Example usage of "arouse": "The movie can arouse feelings of sadness in the audience.". More examples on the page.