STIMULUS (stimuli)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: stimuli   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does stimulus mean? 

• STIMULUS (noun)
  The noun STIMULUS has 1 sense:

1. any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action

  Familiarity information: STIMULUS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STIMULUS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

input; stimulant; stimulation; stimulus

Hypernyms ("stimulus" is a kind of...):

information (knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "stimulus"):

elicitation; evocation; induction (stimulation that calls up (draws forth) a particular class of behaviors)

kick (the sudden stimulation provided by strong drink (or certain drugs))

turn-on (something causing excitement or stimulating interest)

negative stimulation; turnoff (something causing antagonism or loss of interest)

conditioned stimulus (the stimulus that is the occasion for a conditioned response)

reinforcement; reinforcer; reinforcing stimulus ((psychology) a stimulus that strengthens or weakens the behavior that produced it)

cue; discriminative stimulus (a stimulus that provides information about what to do)

positive stimulus (a stimulus with desirable consequences)

negative stimulus (a stimulus with undesirable consequences)

Derivation:

stimulate (act as a stimulant)

stimulate (cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner)

stimulate (provide the needed stimulus for)

stimulate (stir feelings in)

 Context examples 

These receptors provide rapid responses to a variety of stimuli, and are often rapidly attenuated in their signaling.

(Attenuation of GPCR Signaling Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

Color stimuli vary in wavelength and intensity.

(Humans Can Identify More Than 1 Trillion Smells, NIH, US)

MKK3/6 can also be activated directly by ASK1, which is stimulated by apoptotic stimuli.

(p38 MAPK Signaling Pathway BioCarta, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

People encounter stressful situations and stimuli everywhere, every day, and studies have shown that long-term stress can contribute to a broad array of health problems.

(Researchers identify brain circuits that help people cope with stress, NIH)

Even when subjected to the same stimuli, these two groups show different electroencephalography signals.

(Our Weight Tells How We Assess Food, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The least sound of it was a stimulus to his love, and he thrilled and throbbed with every word she uttered.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

GSK3B also phosphorylates tau but does not induce hyperphosphorylation in response to calpain activating stimuli.

(Alzheimer's Disease Pathway BioCarta, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

This abnormal response to stimuli is called allodynia.

(Genetic study paves way for new neuropathic pain treatments, University of Granada)

This gene is involved in the response to mechanical stimuli.

(PIEZO2 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

This protein plays a role in detection of mechanical stimuli.

(Piezo-Type Mechanosensitive Ion Channel Component 1, NCI Thesaurus)