stimulus

See also: Stimulus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin stimulus (“goad, prick”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɪm.jə.ləs/

Noun

stimulus (plural stimuluses or stimuli)

1. (Can we clean up⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) Any external phenomenon that has an influence on a system, by triggering or modifying an internal phenomenon.

   an economic stimulus

   • 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Democrats, meanwhile, point out that Republicans seem to have made a conscious decision, beginning with the stimulus, to oppose anything the president put forward, dooming any chance of renewed cooperation between the parties.

2. (Can we clean up⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (physiology) Something external that elicits or influences a physiological or psychological activity or response.
3. (Can we clean up⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (psychology) Anything effectively impinging upon any of the sensory apparatuses of a living organism, including physical phenomena both internal and external to the body.
4. (Can we clean up⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) Anything that induces a person to take action.

Synonyms

• (anything that may have an impact or influence): influence
• (anything that induces a person to take action): impetus, impulse, spur

Translations

anything that may have an impact or influence on a system

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 刺激物 (zh) (cìjīwù)

• Danish: stimulans (da) c
• Finnish: vaikute (fi), kannuste (fi), kiihoke (fi), ärsyke (fi); stimulus (fi) (scientific)
• French: stimulus (fr) m
• Galician: estímulo m
• German: Auslöseimpuls m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 刺激 (ja) (しげき, shigeki)
• Latin: stimulus m
• Polish: bodziec (pl) m
• Portuguese: estímulo (pt) m
• Romanian: stimul (ro) m
• Russian: сти́мул (ru) m (stímul), побуди́тель (ru) m (pobudítelʹ), стимуля́тор (ru) m (stimuljátor)

in physiology: something external that elicits or influences a physiological or psychological activity or response

• Czech: podnět (cs) m
• Danish: stimulans (da) c
• Finnish: ärsyke (fi), stimulus (fi) (scientific)
• German: Stimulus (de) m
• Polish: bodziec (pl) m
• Portuguese: estímulo (pt) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: stimul (ro) m
• Russian: сти́мул (ru) m (stímul)
• Spanish: estímulo (es) m
• Tagalog: ganyak

in psychology: anything effectively impinging upon any of the sensory apparatuses of a living organism

• Czech: podnět (cs) m
• Danish: stimulans (da) c
• Finnish: ärsyke (fi), stimulus (fi) (scientific)
• German: Stimulus (de) m
• Polish: bodziec (pl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: estímulo (pt) m
• Romanian: stimul (ro) m
• Spanish: estímulo (es) m
• Tagalog: ganyak

anything that induces a person to take action

• Czech: podnět (cs) m
• Danish: udløsningsimpuls c, igangsætter c
• Esperanto: sprono, ekilo
• Finnish: ärsyke (fi), stimulus (fi) (scientific)
• German: Auslöseimpuls m
• Greek:

  Ancient: κέντρον n (kéntron)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: stimulus m, calcar n
• Polish: bodziec (pl) m
• Portuguese: estímulo (pt) m
• Romanian: stimul (ro) m, motiv (ro) n
• Spanish: estímulo (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} stimulans (nl) m, ^{(please verify)} stimulus (nl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} spreagadh m

---

Esperanto

Verb

stimulus

1. conditional of stimuli

---

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin stimulus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sti.my.lys/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Noun

stimulus m (plural stimulus or stimuli)

1. stimulus

Further reading

• “stimulus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

---

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *steyǵ- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”). Cognate with Ancient Greek στίζω (stízō, “I mark”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈsti.mu.lus/, [ˈs̠t̪ɪmʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsti.mu.lus/, [ˈst̪iːmulus]

Noun

stimulus m (genitive stimulī); second declension

1. a goad, prick
2. a sting
3. (figuratively) stimulus, incentive

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	stimulus	stimulī
Genitive	stimulī	stimulōrum
Dative	stimulō	stimulīs
Accusative	stimulum	stimulōs
Ablative	stimulō	stimulīs
Vocative	stimule	stimulī

Related terms

• stimulātiō
• stimulō

Descendants

• Aromanian: strimurari
• Catalan: estímul
• English: stimulus
• French: stimulus
• Galician: estímulo
• Italian: stimolo
• Portuguese: estímulo
• Romanian: stimul, strămurare
• Russian: сти́мул (stímul)
• Spanish: estímulo

References

• “stimulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “stimulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• stimulus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• stimulus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be spurred on by ambition: stimulis gloriae concitari
    
  • to spur, urge a person on: calcaria alicui adhibere, admovere; stimulos alicui admovere
    
• “stimulus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

---

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Probably from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin

Noun

stimulus m (definite singular stimulusen, indefinite plural stimuli, definite plural stimuliene)

1. a stimulus

Related terms

• stimulere

References

• “stimulus” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

---

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Probably from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin

Noun

stimulus m (definite singular stimulusen, indefinite plural stimuli or stimulusar, definite plural stimuliane or stimulusane)

1. a stimulus

References

• “stimulus” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.