Words / B2

STIM-y-uh-l-uh-s/ˈstɪmjələs/

A stimulus is something that causes a reaction or more activity (plural stimuli): name the stimulus; an economic stimulus. Trigger is close; incentive is a reward to act. Name the stimulus in the practical. Mix-up: stimulate is the verb (already elsewhere); stimulant is a drug. Do not write stimulus for the whole experiment.

Meaning

Something that causes a reaction or more activity (plural: stimuli).

Examples

• “Name the stimulus in the psychology practical, not “the thing we showed”.”
• “A stimulus package featured in the economics booklet, which is the spending sense.”

Good to know

a stimulus; stimuli (plural); economic stimulus. Verb: stimulate. Trap: stimulant. Psychology, biology, and economics. The cause of a reaction, not the response.

Near in meaning

trigger

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