stimulus


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Related to stimulus: unconditioned stimulus, stimuli

stim·u·lus

 (stĭm′yə-ləs)
n. pl. stim·u·li (-lī′)
1. Something causing or regarded as causing a response.
2. An agent, action, or condition that elicits or accelerates a physiological or psychological activity or response.
3.
a. Something that incites or rouses to action; an incentive: "Works which were in themselves poor have often proved a stimulus to the imagination" (W.H. Auden).
b. Government spending designed to generate or increase economic activity.

[Latin, goad.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

stimulus

(ˈstɪmjʊləs)
n, pl -li (-ˌlaɪ; -ˌliː)
1. something that stimulates or acts as an incentive
2. (Physiology) any drug, agent, electrical impulse, or other factor able to cause a response in an organism
3. (Psychology) an object or event that is apprehended by the senses
4. (Pharmacology) med a former name for stimulant
[C17: from Latin: a cattle goad]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

stim•u•lus

(ˈstɪm yə ləs)

n., pl. -li (-ˌlaɪ)
1. something that incites or quickens action, feeling, thought, etc.
2. something that excites an organism or part to functional activity.
[1605–15; < Latin: a goad, stimulus]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

stim·u·lus

(stĭm′yə-ləs)
Plural stimuli (stĭm′yə-lī′)
Something that causes a response in a body part or organism. A stimulus may be internal or external. Sense organs, such as the ear, and sensory receptors, such as those in the skin, are sensitive to external stimuli such as sound and touch.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

stimulus

Any change that evokes a response from an organism.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.stimulus - any stimulating information or eventstimulus - any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action
information - knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction
elicitation, evocation, induction - stimulation that calls up (draws forth) a particular class of behaviors; "the elicitation of his testimony was not easy"
kick - the sudden stimulation provided by strong drink (or certain drugs); "a sidecar is a smooth drink but it has a powerful kick"
turn-on - something causing excitement or stimulating interest
negative stimulation, turnoff - something causing antagonism or loss of interest
conditioned stimulus - the stimulus that is the occasion for a conditioned response
reinforcer, reinforcing stimulus, reinforcement - (psychology) a stimulus that strengthens or weakens the behavior that produced it
discriminative stimulus, cue - a stimulus that provides information about what to do
positive stimulus - a stimulus with desirable consequences
negative stimulus - a stimulus with undesirable consequences
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

stimulus

noun incentive, spur, encouragement, impetus, provocation, inducement, goad, incitement, fillip, shot in the arm (informal), clarion call, geeing-up Falling interest rates could be a stimulus to the economy.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

stimulus

noun
1. Something that causes and encourages a given response:
2. Something that incites especially a violent response:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
باعِث، دافِعمُثير، حافِز
hnací sílapodnět
motivationstimulus
inger
áreiti, ertingörvun, hvatning; drifkraftur
pamudinājumsstimuls
hnacia sila

stimulus

[ˈstɪmjʊləs] N (stimuli (pl)) [ˈstɪmjʊlaɪ]estímulo m, incentivo m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

stimulus

[ˈstɪmjʊləs] [stimuli] [ˈstɪmjʊlaɪ] (pl) n
(= encouragement) → stimulant m
(PSYCHOLOGY, PSYCHIATRY)stimulus m
(BIOLOGY)stimulus m
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

stimulus

n pl <stimuli> → Anreiz m, → Ansporn m; (= inspiration)Anregung f, → Stimulus m; (Physiol) → Reiz m; (Psych) → Stimulus m; it gave the trade new stimulusdas hat dem Handel neuen Aufschwung gegeben
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

stimulus

[ˈstɪmjʊləs] n (stimuli (pl)) [ˈstɪmjʊlaɪ]stimolo
it gave trade a new stimulus → ha dato un nuovo impulso al commercio
under the stimulus of → stimolato/a da
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

stimulus

(ˈstimjuləs) plural ˈstimuli (-liː) noun
1. something that causes a reaction in a living thing. Light is the stimulus that causes a flower to open.
2. something that rouses or encourages a person etc to action or greater effort. Many people think that children need the stimulus of competition to make them work better in school.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

stim·u·lus

n. estímulo, cualquier agente o factor que produce una reacción;
conditioned ______ condicionado;
subliminal ______ sublimado.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

stimulus

n (pl -li) estímulo
English-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
I was no longer any unit at unequal strife with the elements; instincts common to my kind were no longer my only stimulus. I was my poor self again; it was my own little life, and no other, that I wanted to go on living;, and yet I felt vaguely there was some special thing I wished to live for, something that had not been very long in my ken; something that had perhaps nerved and strengthened me all these hours.
So I forced myself from my lethargy of despair and grief; and this thought, the sweetest thought of all my life, may or may not have been my unrealized stimulus ere now; it was in very deed my most conscious and perpetual spur henceforth until the end.
The consummating death I show unto you, which becometh a stimulus and promise to the living.
Not a few openly avowed themselves converted to antagonism; the rest needed only a slight stimulus to make a similar avowal.
They deny the justice of property, of capital, of inheritance, while I do not deny this chief stimulus." (Levin felt disgusted himself at using such expressions, but ever since he had been engrossed by his work, he had unconsciously come more and more frequently to use words not Russian.) "All I want is to regulate labor."
My presence, however, does not appear to operate as a stimulus, and in this respect I am materially disappointed.
Nothing in the picture moved but Old Pretty's tail and Tess's pink hands, the latter so gently as to be a rhythmic pulsation only, as if they were obeying a reflex stimulus, like a beating heart.
- at once the stimulus and the object of his desires.
The natural strength and firmness of his nature was beginning to assert itself, urged by the double stimulus of resentment against his aunts, and the sense that he must behave like a man and take care of his mother.
Great as was the stimulus of literary culture, it was only one of several influences that made up the Renaissance.
"These three responses to a sensational stimulus differ, however, in many respects.
Marner's cottage had no thatch; and Dunstan's first act, after a train of thought made rapid by the stimulus of cupidity, was to go up to the bed; but while he did so, his eyes travelled eagerly over the floor, where the bricks, distinct in the fire-light, were discernible under the sprinkling of sand.