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Glite Dictionary
💊 A drug ⚡ Something exciting 🏃 Increasing activity
stimulant

stimulant

3 5.0
Something that makes activity or interest increase
  • noun
  • /ˈstɪmjʊlənt/
translation icon : estímulo
  • For a writer, there is no more creativity-inspiring stimulant.
  • stimulant to action

And it is functions as a social stimulant and lubricant.

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Examples

  • Hopefully, it will act as a stimulant for meaningful action for individuals and groups to create a kinder, safer, better world.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Research findings can be helpful as food for thought, as stimulants to thinking, as suggestions of possibilities and alternatives.

    Academic text (1990)

  • With such a total impact of carnival, the social stimulant is apparently sufficient.

    Academic text (1991)

  • And I certainly am not a fan of stimulants for weight loss.

  • Most of us view alcohol as a stimulant; it makes us feel cheerful and relaxed.

    Blog text (11)

  • Meanwhile, Republican leaders argue that this passage would be the very stimulant that a sluggish economy needs.

    The Game (1997)

  • Even more important than the guillotine's visual reality was its evocative nature, its role as a stimulant of the imagination.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Sahlins's (1963) masterful formulation has proved a fruitful stimulant to discussions of leadership, power, and renown in Melanesia and Polynesia.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The new marketing campaign acted as a stimulant for increasing sales across the company.

  • Many believe that music can serve as a stimulant that enhances creativity and productivity.

Synonyms

stimulus
vsstimulant
289 4.5

Something that causes a person, animal, or plant to respond

is focused on causing increased activity or excitement from events or information
stimulation
vsstimulant
28 4.1

Something that makes someone more interested or active

is about a specific cause that raises activity rather than the general arousal process
energizer
vsstimulant
  • US
3 3.7

Something that gives people more energy or motivation

focuses on supplying energy or motivation to people rather than causing action broadly
exciter
vsstimulant
6.8

Someone or something that causes excitement in people and action in systems

is typically an event or information that raises activity rather than an agent

Antonyms

dullness
1 3.7

Something that is not interesting or exciting

Compounds

stimulant drug
  • Specialized
1 4.5

A drug that makes the body or mind more active for a short time

How Stimulating

provocation
58 7.2
stimulant
3 5.0
stimulus
289 4.5
cue
224 3.3

Surface Forms

stimulant singular
stimulants plural

Morphology

stimulant = stimulate (transparent) = stimulate + ant

The sense 'something that causes increased activity' is a direct nominalization from 'stimulate' with the usual meaning.

Etymology

Stimulant comes from the Latin stimulus ('goad' or 'prick'), an image of a small push that makes things start moving. So a stimulant can be any event or news that gives people a 'push' to act or speeds up activity.