stimulus

Borrowed from Latin stimulus (“goad, prick”).

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈstɪm.jə.ləs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

stimulus (plural stimuluses or stimuli)

1. An external phenomenon that has an influence on a system, by triggering or modifying an internal phenomenon; for example, a spur or incentive that drives a person to take action or change behaviour.

   an economic stimulus

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 174:

     From the beginning of the show to the end, vanity is the sole stimulus and reward of action—vanity, that never looks beyond the present.

   • 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.

   respond to a stimulus

2. (physiology, psychology, medicine) Something external that elicits or influences a physiological or psychological activity or response, or that affects any of the sensory apparatuses.
   • 2002, Kim Burchiel, Surgical Management of Pain, Thieme, →ISBN, page 44:

     Even light nonpainful stimuli can provoke or exacerbate spontaneous pain; this is not limited to tactile, thermal, or vibratory stimuli, because auditory, visual, olfactory, and visceral stimuli also may be problematic.

3. (botany, entomology) A stinging part on the body of a plant or insect.
   • 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 15:

     Many plants, like many animals, are furnished with arms for their protection; these are either aculei, prickles […] ; or stimuli, stings, as in the nettles, which are armed with a venomous fluid for the annoyance of naked animals.

• (anything that may have an impact or influence): influence; impetus, impulse, spur

From Latin stimulus.

stimulus c (singular definite stimulussen, plural indefinite stimuli)

1. a stimulus
   1. incentive, encouragement

• stimulere

• “stimulus” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from Latin stimulus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsti.my.lʏs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sti‧mu‧lus

stimulus m (plural stimuli, diminutive stimulusje n)

1. stimulus

• IPA^(key): /stiˈmulus/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ulus
• Syllabification: sti‧mu‧lus

stimulus

1. conditional of stimuli

Borrowed from Latin stimulus.

• IPA^(key): /sti.my.lys/

• Audio (Paris):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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stimulus m (plural stimulus or stimuli)

1. stimulus

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

Unadapted borrowing from Dutch stimulus, from Latin stimulus (“goad, prick”).

• IPA^(key): [stiˈmulʊs], [sə̆tiˈmulʊs]
• Hyphenation: sti‧mu‧lus

stimulus (plural stimulus-stimulus)

1. stimulus

   Synonym: perangsang

• stimuli

• “stimulus”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Possibly from a Proto-Indo-European *(s)tey- (“sharp object”) that might also be found in stilus, stīva. This could be an unextended variant of the same root found in *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”),^[1] the source of Ancient Greek στίζω (stízō, “to mark”), although De Vaan is skeptical of the connection.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈstɪ.mʊ.ɫʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈstiː.mu.lus]

stimulus m (genitive stimulī); second declension

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

Second-declension noun.

• stimulātiō
• stimulō

Borrowings:

• “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, 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

From Latin.

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

1. a stimulus

• By a 1995 spelling decision, Norsk språkråd permitted the regular plural forms stimuluser and stimulusene.^[1] These are scarcely used.

• stimulere

• “stimulus” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “stimulus” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

From Latin.

3=stimuli
4=stimuliane

stimulus m (plural stimulusen)

1. a stimulus

• By a 1995 spelling decision, Norsk språkråd permitted the regular plural forms stimulusar and stimulusane.^[1] These are scarcely used.

• stimulere

• “stimulus” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “stimulus”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016

stimulus c or n

1. (physiology, psychology, medicine) stimulus

"Economic stimulus" is "ekonomisk stimulans."

• stimulans
• stimulera

• “stimulus”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “stimulus”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “stimulus”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)