Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act or process of exciting or an instance of it.
  • noun The state or condition of being excited.
  • noun Physiology The activity produced in an organ, tissue, or part, such as a nerve cell, as a result of stimulation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of exciting or rousing to action; a stirring up or awakening.
  • noun The state of being excited; excitement.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of exciting or putting in motion; the act of rousing up or awakening.
  • noun (Physiol.) The act of producing excitement (stimulation); also, the excitement produced.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of exciting or putting in motion; the act of rousing up or awakening.
  • noun The act of producing excitement (stimulation); also, the excitement produced.
  • noun physiology The activity produced in an organ, tissue, or part, such as a nerve cell, as a result of stimulation
  • noun physics The change in state as an excited state is formed by the absorption of a quantum of energy

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the state of being emotionally aroused and worked up
  • noun the neural or electrical arousal of an organ or muscle or gland
  • noun something that agitates and arouses

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The musical notes of the string are called excitation modes compared to the string at rest.

    Euclid’s Window Leonard Mlodinow 2001

  • The musical notes of the string are called excitation modes compared to the string at rest.

    Euclid’s Window Leonard Mlodinow 2001

  • The musical notes of the string are called excitation modes compared to the string at rest.

    Euclid’s Window Leonard Mlodinow 2001

  • They react only weakly to chemical reagents which produce strong dilation in the tongue, and while very slight mechanical irritation can cause some dilation, as a rule they contract when the excitation is stronger.

    August Krogh - Nobel Lecture 1967

  • Here the initial reflex excitation is closely followed by an ensuing reflex inhibition commingled with and partially counter-acting the concurrent excitation.

    Sir Charles Sherrington - Nobel Lecture 1965

  • Since reciprocal innervation has been observed to obtain between these muscles, the phase of lapse of excitation is probably one of filer active inhibition.

    Sir Charles Sherrington - Nobel Lecture 1965

  • Here therefore the admixture of central inhibition with central excitation is a normal feature of a natural reflex.

    Sir Charles Sherrington - Nobel Lecture 1965

  • The quantitative character of the interaction between opposed inhibition and excitation is experimentally demonstrable.

    Sir Charles Sherrington - Nobel Lecture 1965

  • The standard excitation is found to be then diminished (as shown by the twitch-contraction which it evokes) more than it is if subjected to either one inhibitory volley only.

    Sir Charles Sherrington - Nobel Lecture 1965

  • "for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane"

    Medicine 1963 1963

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