to give life to; make alive

God animated the dust.

to make lively, vivacious, or vigorous; give zest or spirit to

Her presence animated the party.

to fill with courage or boldness; encourage

to animate weary troops.

to move or stir to action; motivate

He was animated by religious zeal.

to give motion to

leaves animated by a breeze.

to prepare or produce as an animated cartoon

to animate a children's story.

alive; possessing life

animate creatures.

lively

an animate expression of joy.

of or relating to animal life.

able to move voluntarily.

Linguistics . belonging to a syntactic category or having a semantic feature that is characteristic of words denoting beings regarded as having perception and volition ( opposed to inanimate ).

adjective

enlivening , quickening , rousing , vitalizing , vivifying