stimulus

noun

stim·​u·​lus ˈstim-yə-ləs 

plural stimuli ˈstim-yə-ˌlī 

-ˌlē

: something that rouses or incites to activity: such as

a

: incentive

b

: stimulant sense 1

c

: an agent (such as an environmental change) that directly influences the activity of a living organism or one of its parts (as by exciting a sensory organ or evoking muscular contraction or glandular secretion)

Synonyms

• boost
• encouragement
• goad
• impetus
• impulse
• incentive
• incitation
• incitement
• instigation
• momentum
• motivation
• provocation
• spur
• stimulant
• yeast

Examples of stimulus in a Sentence

The pay raise was a stimulus for production.

Heat and light are physical stimuli.

The dog responded to the stimulus of the ringing bell.

Recent Examples on the Web

With people hunkering down at home and huge numbers of workers laid off, governments and central banks tried to mitigate the devastation with both fiscal and monetary stimulus — including by directly spending more and by slashing interest rates to encourage borrowing. —Jonathan Swan, New York Times, 8 June 2024

Internet culture around meme stocks has receded from the boom days of the pandemic, with stimulus checks long spent and the economy in a precarious state. —Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 7 June 2024

In such cases, treatments may not be as clear-cut as simply reducing or removing a particular stimulus. —Dominique Fluker, Essence, 8 May 2024

During the first two years of COVID-19, consumers paid down their debts significantly, thanks in part to stimulus checks and other government programs. —Don Lee, Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin

First Known Use

1684, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

stimulus

noun

stim·​u·​lus ˈstim-yə-ləs 

plural stimuli -ˌlī 

-ˌlē

1

: something that rouses or stirs to action : incentive

2

: something (as an environmental change) that acts to partly change bodily activity (as by exciting a sensory organ)

heat, light, and sound are common physical stimuli

Medical Definition

stimulus

noun

stim·​u·​lus ˈstim-yə-ləs 

plural stimuli -ˌlī  -ˌlē 

1

: stimulant sense 1

2

: an agent (as an environmental change) that directly influences the activity of living protoplasm (as by exciting a sensory organ or evoking muscular contraction or glandular secretion)

a visual stimulus