Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To affect, guide, or arouse by divine influence.
- intransitive verb To fill with enlivening or exalting emotion.
- intransitive verb To stimulate to action; motivate: synonym: encourage.
- intransitive verb To cause (someone) to have a particular feeling; affect or touch.
- intransitive verb To cause someone to have (a feeling or reaction); elicit or arouse.
- intransitive verb To be the cause or source of; bring about.
- intransitive verb To draw in (air) by inhaling.
- intransitive verb To breathe on.
- intransitive verb To breathe life into.
- intransitive verb To stimulate energies, ideals, or reverence.
- intransitive verb To inhale.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To breathe in; draw into the lungs; inhale: as, to
inspire pure air: opposed to expire. - To breathe into; infuse by or as if by breathing.
- Hence To actuate or influence; animate; affect, rouse, or control by an infused, animating, or exalting influence.
- Specifically To guide or control by divine influence; instruct or infuse with spiritual or divine knowledge.
- To inhale air; draw air into the lungs: opposed to expire.
- To blow; blow in.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To draw in breath; to inhale air into the lungs; -- opposed to
expire . - intransitive verb obsolete To breathe; to blow gently.
- transitive verb To breathe into; to fill with the breath; to animate.
- transitive verb To infuse by breathing, or as if by breathing.
- transitive verb To draw in by the operation of breathing; to inhale; -- opposed to
expire . - transitive verb To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by inspiration.
- transitive verb To infuse into; to affect, as with a superior or supernatural influence; to fill with what animates, enlivens, or exalts; to communicate inspiration to.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
infuse into the mind; tocommunicate to the spirit; toconvey , as by a divine or supernatural influence; todisclose preternaturally; toproduce in, as by inspiration. - verb transitive To infuse into; to
affect , as with a superior or supernatural influence; tofill with whatanimates ,enlivens orexalts ; tocommunicate inspiration to. - verb intransitive To
draw in by the operation of breathing; toinhale . - verb To
infuse by breathing, or as if by breathing. - verb archaic (
transitive ) To breathe into; to fill with the breath; to animate. - verb transitive To spread
rumour indirectly.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb supply the inspiration for
- verb spur on or encourage especially by cheers and shouts
- verb draw in (air)
- verb heighten or intensify
- verb fill with revolutionary ideas
- verb serve as the inciting cause of
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Perhaps we can get women back into following good sense regarding clothing, and once again inspire the masculine men to paint pictures of them for all time, paintings that future generations would not be ashamed to see.
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Perhaps we can get women back into following good sense regarding clothing, and once again inspire the masculine men to paint pictures of them for all time, paintings that future generations would not be ashamed to see.
Archive 2009-07-01 2009
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Did the family background you discovered while writing On Gold Mountain inspire you to focus on this aspect of your genetic inheritance in your fiction?
Random House Reader's Circle chats with with Lisa See about Peony in Love 2010
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Did the family background you discovered while writing On Gold Mountain inspire you to focus on this aspect of your genetic inheritance in your fiction?
Random House Reader's Circle chats with with Lisa See about Peony in Love 2010
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In the light of day, eyes open, he would use his hands, grabbing and kneading and pinching and gazing up at me, an adorable little beastie, ravenous and innocent and impossibly, impossibly soft, and I would wonder: how can a creature that brings such pain inspire such tenderness?
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Sharing beautiful language and great stories that thrill and inspire is a pleasure for adults and children well into the middle-school years, and storytelling is such a welcome relief from all the policing jobs parents have to do.
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But in works like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, The Wolfman, the fear that they inspire is the fear of the total loss of self.
Lance Mannion: 2008
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But in works like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, The Wolfman, the fear that they inspire is the fear of the total loss of self.
Patty vs. Tania 2008
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According to Random House, the word inspire means:
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Caused to Hyperventilate by a Professor An attempt to inspire is a flop.
bilby commented on the word inspire
A diabetic vampire.
March 25, 2009
john commented on the word inspire
Also, a hip vampire.
March 25, 2009
reesetee commented on the word inspire
Ha!
March 26, 2009