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View synonyms for animate

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

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

  1. being alive or having life
  2. gay, spirited, or lively
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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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
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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
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Word History and Origins

Origin of animate1

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

He jumped headlong into a project 50 times bigger than his last feature but also, notably, 50 times smaller than a Disney animated film.

The comedy about 11-year-old Riley’s emotions, led by Joy, struggling to find balance within her grossed more than $850 million and won the animated feature Oscar.

But there is still a certain snobbery towards animated films, and only three have ever scored a best picture nomination - Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story 3 and Up.

From BBC

A No 10 source told me the prime minister is “animated by solving the issue and is keen to proceed”, hence the meeting planned with the health secretary and chancellor in the next fortnight.

From BBC

“We like Ike” was turned into Roy O. Disney’s hugely successful animated TV campaign commercial, “I Like Ike,” helping the guy good at the mike win in a landslide over Adlai Stevenson.

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More About Animate

What does animate mean?

To animate is to make lively or give spirit to. Someone can animate a dull situation by bringing some energy to it, such as with humor, music, or anything that is associated with movement or emotion.

To animate also means to give motion to, the way a cartoonist or animator does with drawings. Animated media include cartoons, 3D films, video games, and visual effects.

To animate also means to motivate or to encourage to take action, as in Coach really animated the team with her pre-game speech.

Animate can be used as an adjective to mean lively or full of energy, as in Carly had an animate spirit that people liked to be around.

Animate can also mean able to move voluntarily. It can also broadly describe any living being as separate from inanimate objects, which cannot move on their own and don’t have their own will.

When animate is used as an adjective, it is pronounced as [ anuh-mit ], rather than [ anuh-meyt ], as the verb form is.

Example: I animate characters for children’s shows using a computer program.

Where does animate come from?

The first records of the term animate come from around the 1300s. It ultimately comes from the Latin animāre, meaning “to fill with breath, to make alive.” To animate something is to make it appear as if it were alive. 

The field of animation has grown in visual quality and technique since its early days. Artists who animate no longer draw each frame individually. Animators now have complex hardware and software that allow them to manipulate characters in a three- or two-dimensional space using physics, realistic lighting effects, enhanced textures, and realistic movement. Some artists even capture the motion of real actors and then use those movements as a reference to animate characters for video games and film, as with the character of Thanos in the Avengers film series. Thanos was based on the motion of actor Josh Brolin but was almost entirely animated using computer technology.

Did you know … ?

What are some other forms related to animate

  • animated (adjective, verb)
  • animateness (noun)
  • animatingly (adverb)
  • inanimate (adjective)

What are some synonyms for animate?

What are some words that share a root or word element with animate

What are some words that often get used in discussing animate?

How is animate used in real life?

Animate is frequently used to discuss giving motion to pictures.

 

Try using animate!

Is animate used correctly in the following sentence?

Nila was so animated while telling her story that she danced around the room.

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animal starchanimated