1
as in to awaken
to cause to stop sleeping
the rooster's crow aroused me from my deep sleep
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to awake
to cease to be asleep
set the alarm so we would arouse at 5:00 a.m.
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to provoke
to rouse to strong feeling or action
the court's controversial decision aroused many to protest and to lobby the legislature for a constitutional amendment
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of arouse
For instance, people often mistake a dog’s wagging tail as a sign of happiness, but the American Kennel Club suggests that the wagging movement only indicates that the dog is emotionally aroused.
—
Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 19 Apr. 2025
From classic role plays surrounding one's age or pets to the strangely specific, like men being aroused by women playing with toy cars or eating pizza.
—Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 June 2025
The offensive Orientalist depictions of Chinese characters that were common in Hollywood films of that era inevitably aroused strong passions in Chinese audiences.
—H.m.a. Leow, JSTOR Daily, 3 June 2025
Several other drugs, including amantadine and apomorphine, can have similarly arousing effects, though none has worked in more than a tiny sliver of patients.
—Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 16 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for arouse
Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 19 Apr. 2025
From classic role plays surrounding one's age or pets to the strangely specific, like men being aroused by women playing with toy cars or eating pizza.
—Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 June 2025
The offensive Orientalist depictions of Chinese characters that were common in Hollywood films of that era inevitably aroused strong passions in Chinese audiences.
—H.m.a. Leow, JSTOR Daily, 3 June 2025
Several other drugs, including amantadine and apomorphine, can have similarly arousing effects, though none has worked in more than a tiny sliver of patients.
—Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 16 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for arouse
Recent Examples of Synonyms for arouse
Verb
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The defense, with its framing, wanted to awaken any latent unease that a juror—an older one, perhaps—might feel toward the preceding years of correction between the sexes.—
Doreen St. Félix,
New Yorker,
3 July 2025
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What Santana has awakened from the Earth, alongside the continued popular appeal of his art, has stirred other echoes familiar to his incredible career.—
Marcus K. Dowling,
The Tennessean,
2 July 2025
Verb
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Gupta awoke the girl to feed her dinner at 9 p.m., and the 4-year-old remained awake until 12:30 a.m., the affidavit says.—
Tim Stelloh,
NBC news,
4 July 2025
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As the sun rose beyond the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in central Washington, Mike McLeod awoke and turned his thoughts to the frustrating hunt.—
Natalie Neysa Alund,
USA Today,
1 July 2025
Verb
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Run adversarial simulations, employ red teams, and commission third-party evaluations that deliberately try to provoke harmful behaviors.—
Aytekin Tank,
Forbes.com,
8 July 2025
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Don't run away or climb a tree, which may provoke a chase.—
Kaycee Sloan,
The Enquirer,
8 July 2025
Verb
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Dickinson led off the semifinal game and roped a double off his metal bat that Smith said woke him up from a long, tiring day.—
Christopher Kamrani,
New York Times,
8 July 2025
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Fox News and similar corners of the internet were ablaze with myopic insistences that any inclusion of, or even nod to, this rather essential, commonplace, and well-known part of the Superman backstory made the new movie, somehow, another piece of woke Hollywood nonsense.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
8 July 2025
Verb
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An Electrifying Farewell As the final chords rang out and Chaka brought the night full circle with a rousing encore of I’m Every Woman, a tangible electricity surged through the crowd and everybody danced, including the most reserved concert goers.—
Lee Sharrock,
Forbes.com,
8 July 2025
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Edwards was reunited with former Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer in San Diego and got a rousing ovation when the Chargers returned to Arrowhead.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
7 July 2025
Verb
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Their main message is to encourage couples to actively consider the decision instead of following the norm.—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
People.com,
12 July 2025
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If your plants are still fruiting towards the end of the season, cut away any small fruit and lingering flowers to encourage your plant to spend its remaining energy ripening the last few cucumbers on the vine.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
12 July 2025
Verb
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Doing so could stimulate economic growth, and would be warmly welcomed by the White House and investors.—
Hugh Cameron,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 July 2025
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Examples include flashing notifications that make your phone jump and squeak, colorful rewards when others like your posts, and algorithms that push out the most emotional content to stimulate your most base emotions of anger, shame or glee.—
Lisa Schirch,
The Conversation,
7 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Arouse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/arouse. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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