arouse

verb

\ə-ˈrau̇z

aroused; arousing

Definition of arouse

1 : to awaken from sleep was aroused from a deep sleep by a loud noise

2 : to stimulate to action or to bodily readiness for activity : excite a book that has aroused debate

3 : to excite (someone) sexually : to cause sexual arousal in (someone) … girls whose perfume scent frightened him and aroused him.— Elizabeth Berg

intransitive verb

: to awake from sleep : stir

Other Words from arouse Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about arouse

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Synonyms & Antonyms for arouse

Synonyms

awake, awaken, rouse, wake, waken

Antonyms

lull

Examples of arouse in a Sentence

The report aroused a great deal of public interest. The husky sound of her voice could always arouse him. Their proposal is certain to arouse the opposition.

Recent Examples on the Web

Bottlenecks at Tesla's battery factory and assembly plant have undermined that effort, limiting the return on that investment and arousing concern that the company may need to raise more cash. — Bloomberg, latimes.com, "Tesla recalls early Model S cars to retrofit power-steering part," 29 Mar. 2018 The final result was a textured pixie that got gradually shorter in the public eye, without arousing suspicion. — Chloe Metzger, Marie Claire, "Princess Diana Only Cut Her Hair 1/4 Inch at a Time so Fans Wouldn’t Notice," 15 June 2018 It has been found, for instance, that blue-green-yellow type colors tend to be particularly arousing. — Joe Peterburger, National Geographic, "Why the Brain-Body Connection Is More Important Than We Think," 17 Mar. 2018 Even strawberry ice cream would arouse no latent anarchistic tendencies, while vanilla or peach would be soothing to the very reddest of the Reds. — Linda Rodriguez Mcrobbie, BostonGlobe.com, "How ice cream made America," 30 June 2018 More often than not African-Americans were the silent partners in statewide southern politics, expected to confine their ambitions to majority-minority jurisdictions where their presence would not arouse a racial backlash. — Ed Kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "Stacey Abrams and the New Democratic Coalition in the South," 23 May 2018 In tennis, few things arouse the crowd more than confrontations, especially those involving players, umpires and line judges. — Cindy Shmerler, New York Times, "Tennis Moves Toward Taking the Human Element Out of Line Calls," 1 Mar. 2018 Knocks on the window did not arouse him, the state police said. — Martin Weil, Washington Post, "Man suffers apparent drug overdose while on road at wheel of car," 4 Feb. 2018 Kate Mulholland, from the Crown Prosecution Service, says when suspicions were aroused, Gamoota disappeared, but authorities tracked him down. — Fox News, "Judge sentences Grenfell fraudster to 18 months in prison," 1 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'arouse.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.