Meaning & use
animate
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Meanings
verbtransitiveformal
To fill someone or something with life, spirit or energy.
Grammar: Takes an object: a story can animate a classroom. Often used in the passive with by or with.
Patterns
- animate something
- be animated by something
A sudden burst of laughter animated the quiet room.
Her passion for justice animates everything she writes.
The coach tried to animate the tired players with a short speech.
verbtransitivetechnical
To make drawn, model or computer images appear to move, as in a cartoon or film.
Grammar: Takes an object: they animated the dragon.
Patterns
- animate a character
- animate something with software
Artists spent two years animating the dragon for the film.
She learned to animate simple characters using free software.
The team animated every frame of the short by hand.
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
Alive, as opposed to dead or never alive.
Grammar: Pronounced /ˈænɪmət/ as an adjective, and contrasted with inanimate: animate beings.
Patterns
- animate beings
- animate and inanimate things
Biologists study how animate matter differs from rocks and water.
Children learn early to tell animate creatures from inanimate objects.
The poem gives animate qualities to the wind.
Word forms
| third person singular | animates |
|---|---|
| past tense | animated |
| past participle | animated |
| -ing form | animating |
Common combinations
- animate a character
- It took the studio three months to animate a single character.
- animate a discussion
- A surprising question animated the discussion.
- animate an object
- The designer used software to animate an object across the screen.
- animate and inanimate
- The riddle compares animate and inanimate objects.
- animate someone with hope
- The news animated the villagers with hope.
Synonyms and how they differ
- enliven
- Enliven means to make something more lively or interesting, but it does not apply to drawing movement the way animate does.
- invigorate
- Invigorate stresses giving physical or mental energy, whereas animate suggests bringing spirit or movement.
- inspire
- Inspire means to encourage someone to act, while animate describes something giving life to a situation or thing.
- liven up
- Liven up is informal and used for parties or conversations, and does not apply to cartoons.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: animate or inanimate? animate or anime?
animate vs inanimate
Inanimate means not alive, the exact opposite of the adjective animate, and the prefix in- is easy to overlook.
animate vs anime
Anime is a style of Japanese animation, while animate is the verb for making images move.
Practice
The studio hired ten artists to ______ the characters for the new series.
Choose one answer.
Animate is the verb meaning to make drawn figures move. Inanimate is an adjective meaning not alive, so it cannot follow to.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “animate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.