animate

C1 · Advanced Formal

v. to give energy, excitement, or spirit to a person, a discussion, or a place.

v. to stimulate, enliven, or impart vigour to a situation, person, or abstract concept.

“A sudden burst of laughter helped animate the quiet dinner party.”

“The speaker's passion for social reform served to animate the otherwise dry academic conference, sparking a lively debate among the delegates.”

B2 · Upper Intermediate Science Academic

adj. living; having life rather than being a dead object.

adj. possessing life, consciousness, or the capacity for voluntary motion; distinguished from inanimate matter.

“Children often wonder if their toys become animate when no one is looking.”

“The philosopher argued that the distinction between animate beings and mechanical systems is becoming increasingly blurred by artificial intelligence.”

C2 · Proficiency Law Technical

adj. used to describe a word that refers to a person or an animal rather than an object.

adj. denoting a grammatical category of nouns or pronouns that refer to living entities, often requiring specific inflectional agreement.

“In some languages, you use different verb endings for animate and inanimate subjects.”

“The researcher noted that the language treats trees as animate nouns, reflecting the culture's deep spiritual connection to the forest.”