animate

—animately, adv. —animateness, n. —animatingly, adv.

v. /an"euh mayt'/; adj. /an"euh mit/, v., animated, animating, adj.

v.t.

1. to give life to; make alive: God animated the dust.

2. to make lively, vivacious, or vigorous; give zest or spirit to: Her presence animated the party.

3. to fill with courage or boldness; encourage: to animate weary troops.

4. to move or stir to action; motivate: He was animated by religious zeal.

5. to give motion to: leaves animated by a breeze.

6. to prepare or produce as an animated cartoon: to animate a children's story.

adj.

7. alive; possessing life: animate creatures.

8. lively: an animate expression of joy.

9. of or relating to animal life.

10. able to move voluntarily.

11. Ling. belonging to a syntactic category or having a semantic feature that is characteristic of words denoting beings regarded as having perception and volition (opposed to inanimate).

[1375-1425; late ME animat < L animatus filled with breath or air, quickened, animated (ptp. of animare). See ANIMA, -ATE¹]

Syn. 1. vivify, quicken, vitalize. 2. energize, fortify. ANIMATE, INVIGORATE, STIMULATE mean to enliven. To ANIMATE is to create a liveliness: Health and energy animated his movements. To INVIGORATE means to give physical vigor, to refresh, to exhilarate: Mountain air invigorates. To STIMULATE is to arouse a latent liveliness on a particular occasion: Alcohol stimulates. 3. inspire, inspirit, hearten, arouse, exhilarate. 4. excite, incite, fire, urge, kindle, prompt.

Ant. 1. kill. 7. dead.

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