inspire
- To fill someone with the urge or ability to feel, create, or do something; to motivate or stimulate.
In a sentence
- The coach's halftime speech inspired the team to come back and win the game.
- Her grandmother's resilience continued to inspire her throughout difficult times.
Usage note. Because 'inspire' literally means 'breathe into,' it carries a sense of giving life or energy to something; use it for situations where the effect is genuinely transformative, not merely pleasant.
Where it comes from
Middle English inspire — “to fill with divine breath” · entered English 14th c.
From Old French 'inspirer,' from Latin 'inspirare,' meaning 'to breathe into,' formed from 'in-' (into) and 'spirare' (to breathe). The Latin root carries a literal sense of divine breath being blown into a person, giving them creative or spiritual power. It entered English in the 14th century, originally with a theological meaning before broadening to general creative or motivational senses.