WordWeb Online

1. Heighten or intensify
   "These paintings inspire the imagination";
   - animate, invigorate, enliven, exalt
    
2. Supply the inspiration for
   "The article about the artist inspired the exhibition of his recent work"
    
3. Serve as the inciting cause of
   "She inspired me to call my relatives";
   - prompt, instigate
    
4. Spur on or encourage especially by cheers and shouts
   "The crowd inspired the demonstrating strikers";
   - cheer, root on [N. Amer, informal], urge, barrack [Austral, NZ], urge on, exhort
    
5. Fill with revolutionary ideas
   - revolutionize, revolutionise [Brit]
    
6. Draw in (air)
   "The patient has trouble inspiring"; "The lung cancer patient cannot inspire air very well";
   - inhale, breathe in

Derived forms: inspired, inspires, inspiring

Type of: breathe, cause, encourage, excite, get, have, indoctrinate, induce, make, occasion, respire, shake, shake up, stimulate, stir, suspire [literary], take a breath

Antonym: breathe out

Encyclopedia: Inspire, Debate, Engage and Accelerate Action