To give new life or energy to; SYN. recreate, reanimate, revive, quicken, vivify, revivify.
In grammar, referring to characteristics of living things. The principal parts of speech can all be animate: baby, mouse, and flea are animate nouns; cry, speak, and hope are animate verbs; friendly, stupid, and toothless are animate adjectives.
Animate words can be used metaphorically in inanimate contexts; for example, toothless in a phrase such as “a toothless argument”.