stoke

verb

ˈstōk 

stoked; stoking

transitive verb

1

: to poke or stir up (a fire, flames, etc.) : supply with fuel

2

: to feed abundantly

3

: to increase the activity, intensity, or amount of

… limiting the number of cars available … will help stoke demand for the car.

—Keith Naughton

intransitive verb

: to stir up or tend a fire (as in a furnace) : supply a furnace with fuel

Synonyms of stoke

• increase
• accelerate
• expand
• boost
• augment
• raise

Examples of stoke in a Sentence

The engineer stoked the coals.

The new ad campaign has helped to stoke sales.

Poor revenue figures have stoked concerns about possible layoffs.

Recent Examples on the Web

The beat is crisp and skippy, the synth bass stonking, and carefully placed whorls of modular synth build to actual crowd-stoking drops. — Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 18 July 2026

Trump has seized on primary wins by progressive Democrats to constantly stoke new fears about communism. — Will Weissert, Fortune, 18 July 2026

These fears were stoked by reports that rival ChangXin Memory Technologies , also known as CXMT, is seeing strong demand for its Shanghai listing. — Christina Cheddar Berk,davis Giangiulio, CNBC, 15 July 2026

Fears of resurgent regime remnants are being stoked by the scant court cases against Assad-era officials and the slow work of the country’s National Commission for Transitional Justice, which awaits support and guidelines from Parliament. — Taylor Luck, Christian Science Monitor, 15 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

Dutch stoken; akin to Middle Dutch stuken to push

First Known Use

1683, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for stoke

• bloke
• boeck
• broke
• choke
• cloak
• cloke
• croak
• folk
• hoke
• joke
• moke
• oak

Kids Definition

stoke

verb

ˈstōk 

stoked; stoking

1

: to stir up or tend (as a fire)

2

: to supply (as a furnace) with fuel

3

: to feed plentifully

stoker noun

Medical Definition

stoke

noun

ˈstōk 

: the cgs unit of kinematic viscosity being that of a fluid which has a viscosity of one poise and a density of one gram per cubic centimeter