quicken

verb

1)

she quickened her pace

Syn:

speed up, accelerate, step up, hasten, hurry (up)

2)

the film quickened his interest in nature

Syn:

stimulate, excite, arouse, rouse, stir up, activate, galvanize, whet, inspire, kindle; invigorate, revive, revitalize

••

quicken, animate, enliven, invigorate, stimulate, vitalize

While all of these verbs mean to make alive or lively, quicken suggests the rousing or renewal of life, especially life that has been inert or suspended (she felt the baby quicken during her second trimester of pregnancy). Animate means to impart life, motion, or activity to something that previously lacked such a quality (a discussion animated by the presence of so many young people). Stimulate means to goad into activity from a state of inertia, inactivity, or lethargy (the professor's constant questions stimulated her students to do more research), while enliven refers to a stimulating influence that brightens or makes lively what was previously dull, depressed, or torpid (a sudden change in the weather enlivened the group's activities). Invigorate and vitalize both mean to fill with vigor or energy, but the former refers to physical energy (invigorated by the climb up the mountain), while the latter implies that energy has been imparted in a nonphysical sense (to vitalize an otherwise dull meeting).