frequently_asked_questions_files/Oxford Thesaurus.pdf

inspire, encourage, spur, quicken, fire, fuel, nourish,
activate, whip or stir up, goad, galvanize, jolt, inspirit:
What can be done to stimulate students to study history? Their
teacher eventually found a way to stimulate their interest. 2
increase, encourage, prompt, provoke, quicken: This drug
stimulates the circulation of the blood.
stimulating
adj. exciting, inspirational, inspiring, arousing, stirring,
animating, exhilarating, provocative, thought-provoking: I
cannot recall having spent a more stimulating evening in the
theatre.
sting v. 1 prick, stab, pierce, stick; bite: Bees, wasps, scorpions,
etc. sting you, but mosquitoes, spiders, and snakes bite. 2
hurt, wound, pain, injure, distress, nettle, cut to the quick:
He was really stung by Maria's callous remarks. 3 See
stimulate, 1, above: We were stung into action by the
minister's inspiring speech. 4 cheat, overcharge, swindle,
fleece, defraud, Slang rob, soak, rip off, take for a ride: You
really were stung if you paid that much for such an old piano.
stinker n. wretch, villain, scoundrel, cad, heel, beast, cur, viper,
snake in the grass, skunk, swine, polecat, Rather old-fashioned
blackguard, rogue, Archaic knave, varlet, dastard, (base)
caitiff, Colloq stinkpot, louse, creep, rat, Brit nasty piece of
work, sod, Old-fashioned rotter, bounder, blighter, Slang
(rotten) bastard, son of a bitch, Brit toerag, bugger, US SOB,
bum, stinkeroo or stinkaroo, Taboo slang shit, Brit arse-hole,
US ass-hole: They were a lovely couple, but their son was a
real stinker.
stinking adj. 1 foul-smelling, smelly, fetid or foetid, mephitic, rank,
noisome, malodorous, reeking, putrid, miasmal or miasmatic(al)
or miasmic, rancid, gamy, Colloq Brit pongy, whiffy: They were
kept in a stinking dungeon with little food for a month. 2
wretched, villainous, beastly, vile, contemptible, low,
despicable, mean, nasty, disgusting, rotten, terrible, awful,
Old-fashioned dastardly, Colloq lousy, Taboo slang shitty:
Taking my clothes while I was swimming was a stinking thing to
do. 3 drunken, drunk (as a lord or US also a skunk),
intoxicated, inebriated, (be)sotted, under the influence, over
the limit, high, maudlin, tipsy, woozy, Colloq pie-eyed, loaded,