inspire
to fill with feeling, energy, or an idea
Root
- spir: breathe, breath, or spirit
Other words with the spir root
- conspire: to plot together secretly
- expire: to come to an end
- respiration: breathing
- spirit: breath, energy, or inner life
Spir gives breath. To inspire is to breathe energy, courage, or an idea into someone.
One elegant proof inspired her to keep studying when the chapter felt impossible.
Inspire becomes less vague when you feel the breath image. Something enters and gives life: a person, sentence, proof, song, or example fills you with motion again.