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Inspire vs Generate - What's the difference?

inspire | generate |

As verbs the difference between inspire and generate

is that inspire is while generate is to bring into being; give rise to.

inspire

English

Verb

(inspir)
  • To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by inspiration.
  • * Bible, Wisdom xv. 11
  • He knew not his Maker, and him that inspired into him an active soul.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Dawning day new comfort hath inspired .
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
  • , author=Anna Lena Phillips , title=Sneaky Silk Moths , volume=100, issue=2, page=172 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.}}
  • To infuse into; to affect, as with a superior or supernatural influence; to fill with what animates, enlivens or exalts; to communicate inspiration to.
  • Elders should inspire children with sentiments of virtue.
  • * Dryden
  • Erato, thy poet's mind inspire , / And fill his soul with thy celestial fire.
  • To draw in by the operation of breathing; to inhale.
  • * Harvey
  • forced to inspire and expire the air with difficulty
  • To infuse by breathing, or as if by breathing.
  • (archaic) To breathe into; to fill with the breath; to animate.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Descend, ye Nine, descend and sing, / The breathing instruments inspire .
  • To spread rumour indirectly.
  • Synonyms

    * (l)

    Antonyms

    * (inhale) expire

    Derived terms

    * inspirer

    Anagrams

    * ----

    generate

    English

    Verb

    (generat)
  • To bring into being; give rise to.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 9, author=Jonathan Wilson, work=the Guardian
  • , title= Europa League: Radamel Falcao's AtlĂ©tico Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao , passage=In the last 20 minutes Athletic began to generate the sort of pressure of which they are capable, but by then it was far too late: the game had begun to slip away from them as early as the seventh minute.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them
  • To produce as a result of a chemical or physical process.
  • To procreate, beget.
  • (mathematics) To form a figure from a curve or solid.
  • To appear or occur; be generated.
  • * 1883 , (Thomas Hardy), (The Three Strangers)
  • Mrs. Fennel, seeing the steam begin to generate on the countenances of her guests, crossed over and touched the fiddler's elbow and put her hand on the serpent's mouth.

    Synonyms

    * (to bring into being) create

    Antonyms

    * (to bring into being) annihilate, extinguish * (to produce as a result of a chemical or physical process) erase

    Anagrams

    * ----