animate: Meaning and Definition of

an•i•mate

Pronunciation: (v.an'u-māt"adj.an'u-mit), [key]
— v., adj. -mat•ed, -mat•ing,
—v.t.
  1. to give life to; make alive: God animated the dust.
  2. to make lively, vivacious, or vigorous; give zest or spirit to: Her presence animated the party.
  3. to fill with courage or boldness; encourage: to animate weary troops.
  4. to move or stir to action; motivate: He was animated by religious zeal.
  5. to give motion to: leaves animated by a breeze.
  6. to prepare or produce as an animated cartoon: to animate a children's story.
—adj.
  1. alive; possessing life: animate creatures.
  2. lively: an animate expression of joy.
  3. of or relating to animal life.
  4. able to move voluntarily.
  5. belonging to a syntactic category or having a semantic feature that is characteristic of words denoting beings regarded as having perception and volition (opposed to inanimate).
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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