animate

[ verb an-uh-meyt; adjective an-uh-mit ]

verb (used with object)

, an·i·mat·ed, an·i·mat·ing.

1. to give life to; make alive:

   God animated the dust.

   Synonyms: vitalize, quicken, vivify

   Antonyms: kill

2. to make lively, vivacious, or vigorous; give zest or spirit to:

   Her presence animated the party.

   Synonyms: fortify, energize

3. to fill with courage or boldness; encourage:

   to animate weary troops.

   Synonyms: exhilarate, arouse, hearten, inspirit, inspire

4. to move or stir to action; motivate:

   He was animated by religious zeal.

   Synonyms: prompt, kindle, urge, fire, incite, excite

5. to give motion to:

   leaves animated by a breeze.

6. to render or produce (a story, character, movie, etc.) by using animation: to animate the characters in a video game;

   to animate a children's story;

   to animate the characters in a video game;

   an animated film.

adjective

1. alive; possessing life:

   animate creatures.

   Antonyms: dead

2. lively:

   an animate expression of joy.

3. of or relating to animal life.
4. able to move voluntarily.
5. Linguistics. belonging to a syntactic category or having a semantic feature that is characteristic of words denoting beings regarded as having perception and volition ( inanimate ).

animate

verb

1. to give life to or cause to come alive
2. to make lively; enliven
3. to encourage or inspire
4. to impart motion to; move to action or work
5. to record on film or video tape so as to give movement to

   an animated cartoon

adjective

1. being alive or having life
2. gay, spirited, or lively

Other Words From

• ani·mate·ly adverb
• ani·mate·ness noun
• ani·mating·ly adverb
• inter·ani·mate verb (used with object) interanimated interanimating
• non·ani·mate adjective
• non·ani·mating adjective
• non·ani·mating·ly adverb
• semi·ani·mate adjective
• un·ani·mating adjective
• un·ani·mating·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of animate¹

1375–1425; late Middle English animat < Latin animātus filled with breath or air, quickened, animated (past participle of animāre ). See anima, -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of animate¹

C16: from Latin animāre to fill with breath, make alive, from anima breath, spirit

Synonym Study

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: Caffeine will stimulate you and keep you alert.

Example Sentences

As the first step, animators made a set of controls so they could basically animate big sculptural shapes of tornadoes around the landscape.

From Los Angeles Times

Some of these derive from the Heritage Foundation’s notorious Project 2025, a road map to a reactionary future that is sure to animate many Trump administration policies.

From Los Angeles Times

But the vengeance policy is what's going to animate Trump the most.

From Salon

They simply view us as red meat to target when it comes time to animate their base.

From Salon

They simply view us as red meat to target when it comes time to animate their base.

From Salon

Related Words

• energize
• enliven
• exalt
• excite
• hearten
• inspire