To give natural life to; quicken; make alive: as, the soul animates the body.To affect with an appearance of life; inspire or actuate as if with life; bring into action or movement.To move or actuate the mind of; incite to mental action; prompt.To give spirit or vigor to; infuse courage, joy, or other enlivening passion into; stimulate: as, to animate dispirited troops.Synonyms To vivify. To revive, invigorate. To enliven, stimulate, inspirit, exhilarate, cheer, gladden, impel, urge on, prompt, incite.To become enlivened or exhilarated; rouse one's self.Alive; possessing animal life: as, “creatures animate,”Having the appearance of life; resembling that which is alive; lively.Pertaining to living things: as, “animate diseases,” Kirby and Spence, Entomol.In grammar, referring to living things as indicated by a difference of form in the designating word: said of gender in some languages. See the quotation.