stimulus C1 Topic:People & Society US /ˈstɪm.jə.ləs/ See IPA manual Freq #24710 Meanings 1 noun Something that encourages activity or growth, especially in the economy. The government introduced an economic stimulus to boost spending. 2 noun Something that causes a reaction in a person, animal, or the senses. The dog learned to respond to a sound as a stimulus for food. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · something that encourages... impetusimpulseincentivespur 2 noun · something that causes a... stimulation Word family Forms stimuluses Derived forms antistimuluschemostimuluscontrastimuluscostimuluscounterstimulusextrastimulusgravistimulushyperstimulusinterstimulusmechanostimulusmicrostimulusperistimulus Common collocations stimulus generalization Noun + noun Etymology AI details Borrowed from Latin stimulus (“goad, prick”). Topics People & Society External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # stimulus **Type:** Word **Level:** C1 **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈstɪm.jə.ləs/ **Frequency rank:** 24710 ## Meanings 1. Something that encourages activity or growth, especially in the economy. 2. Something that causes a reaction in a person, animal, or the senses. ## Examples - The government introduced an economic stimulus to boost spending. - The dog learned to respond to a sound as a stimulus for food. ## Derived Forms - antistimulus - chemostimulus - contrastimulus - costimulus - counterstimulus - extrastimulus - gravistimulus - hyperstimulus - interstimulus - mechanostimulus - microstimulus - peristimulus ## Etymology Borrowed from Latin stimulus (“goad, prick”). ## AI Etymology Stimulus is borrowed from Latin stimulus (“goad, prick”). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as antistimulus, chemostimulus, contrastimulus, and costimulus. In present use it covers something that encourages activity or growth, especially in the economy and something that causes a reaction in a person, animal, or the senses. ## Topics - People & Society markdown