different between excite vs sway

English

Etymology

From Middle English exciten, from Old French exciter, from Latin excitare (“call out, call forth, arouse, wake up, stimulate”), frequentative of exciere (“call out, arouse excite”), from ex (“out”) + ciere (“call, summon”). See cite and compare to accite, concite, incite.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?sa?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t
• Hyphenation: ex?cite

Verb

excite (third-person singular simple present excites, present participle exciting, simple past and past participle excited)

1. (transitive) To stir the emotions of.

2. (transitive) To arouse or bring out (e.g. feelings); to stimulate.
3. (transitive, physics) To cause an electron to move to a higher than normal state; to promote an electron to an outer level.

4. To energize (an electromagnet); to produce a magnetic field in.

Antonyms

• relax, calm

Related terms

• excitement
• excitation

Translations

Further reading

• excite in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• excite in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Verb

excite

1. first-person singular present indicative of exciter
2. third-person singular present indicative of exciter
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of exciter
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of exciter
5. second-person singular imperative of exciter

Latin

Verb

exc?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of exci?

Portuguese

Verb

excite

1. First-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of excitar
2. Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você^?) present subjunctive of excitar
3. Third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of excitar
4. Third-person singular (você) negative imperative of excitar

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [eks?t??ite]

Verb

excite

1. third-person singular present subjunctive of excita
2. third-person plural present subjunctive of excita

Spanish

Verb

excite

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of excitar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of excitar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of excitar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of excitar.

English

Etymology

Earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old Norse sveigja (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-Germanic *swaigijan? (compare Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble”), Dutch zwaaien, Dutch Low Saxon sweuen (“to sway in the wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweh?- (compare Lithuanian sva?gti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan ????????????????????-????????????????????????????? (paⁱri-šxuaxta, “to surround”), Sanskrit ?????? (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds”).

The noun derived from the verb.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sw?, IPA^(key): /swe?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Noun

sway (countable and uncountable, plural sways)

1. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
2. A rocking or swinging motion.

3. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side
4. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
5. Rule; dominion; control; power.
6. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
7. The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.

Translations

Verb

sway (third-person singular simple present sways, present participle swaying, simple past and past participle swayed)

1. To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

2. To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.
3. To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.

   • This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.
4. To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp.
   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious

     Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.

5. (nautical) To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.

6. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     The balance sways on our part.

7. To have weight or influence.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     The example of sundry churches […] doth sway much.

8. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.

Derived terms

• asway

Translations

See also

• persuade

Anagrams

• -ways, Yaws, ways, yaws