as in incentives
something that arouses action or activity
seeing a Broadway play for the first time was the stimulus for her career in the theater
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Recent Examples of stimuli
Having relied only on non-visual stimuli, their mental models of the world are likely to be considerably different from those of sighted people.
—
Sachin Rawat, Big Think, 2 Mar. 2026
Similar to the ornate bank hall, the smaller side room influenced the work, with its curved white walls and absence of visual design stimuli.
—Kristen Tauer, Footwear News, 1 Mar. 2026
The reason could be that modern environments contain more interesting stimuli or that modern gasoline no longer contains lead.
—Drew Goins, The Atlantic, 18 Feb. 2026
Smart polymers already exist and can respond to such stimuli, altering their color or shape and then returning to their original state.
—Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 14 Feb. 2026
In contrast, some stimuli are incredibly powerful, hard to find, and unpredictable.
—Literary Hub, 13 Feb. 2026
This suggests the presence of an internal, self-evolving latent variable—independent of external stimuli—that shapes the timing structure of motivation and decision-making.
—Matt Emma, USA Today, 24 Jan. 2026
Emotional numbing symptoms, in particular, are known to intensify this pattern of reacting sharply to negative stimuli and then shutting down emotionally.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026
Pupil size is determined by both external stimuli, such as light, and internal stimuli, such as fatigue or excitement.
—IEEE Spectrum, 7 Jan. 2026
Sachin Rawat, Big Think, 2 Mar. 2026
Similar to the ornate bank hall, the smaller side room influenced the work, with its curved white walls and absence of visual design stimuli.
—Kristen Tauer, Footwear News, 1 Mar. 2026
The reason could be that modern environments contain more interesting stimuli or that modern gasoline no longer contains lead.
—Drew Goins, The Atlantic, 18 Feb. 2026
Smart polymers already exist and can respond to such stimuli, altering their color or shape and then returning to their original state.
—Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 14 Feb. 2026
In contrast, some stimuli are incredibly powerful, hard to find, and unpredictable.
—Literary Hub, 13 Feb. 2026
This suggests the presence of an internal, self-evolving latent variable—independent of external stimuli—that shapes the timing structure of motivation and decision-making.
—Matt Emma, USA Today, 24 Jan. 2026
Emotional numbing symptoms, in particular, are known to intensify this pattern of reacting sharply to negative stimuli and then shutting down emotionally.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026
Pupil size is determined by both external stimuli, such as light, and internal stimuli, such as fatigue or excitement.
—IEEE Spectrum, 7 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stimuli
Noun
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Another reason is that in many European leagues, a large share of broadcasting revenue comes from viewers’ pay-TV subscriptions, negating some of the incentives behind sweeping ad rollouts.—
Tristan Bove,
Fortune,
9 Mar. 2026
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Plano city leaders later agreed to give AT&T $20 million in incentives and a lengthy property tax rebate for the firm to build its new global headquarters.—
Nick Wooten,
Dallas Morning News,
9 Mar. 2026
Noun
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In October 2024 ahead of her own stay at MSG, Billie Eilish recorded encouragements to take the subways for environmental benefits.—
Hannah Dailey,
Billboard,
30 Oct. 2025
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Hints, counsels, warnings, remonstrations, even encouragements are, in the end, of limited value.—
James Parker,
The Atlantic,
21 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Stimuli.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stimuli. Accessed 12 Mar. 2026.
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