How to use rouse in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun, adjective

Rouse means to cause (something) to be (more) active or to move; to agitate, to stir up. Example: “He roused on her for being late yet again.”

Examples of rouse by meaning

verbTo provoke (someone) to react (for example, in anger or annoyance); to spur; also, to annoy, to tease.

But Kate had to rouse her into getting some simple medicine.1926 January, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Casa de la Cuentas”, in The Plumed Serpent (Quetzalcoatl), London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC...
James's Street or Piccadilly and setting up without more ado a barricade and rousing a mob to defend freedom, justice and democracy.1930, Winston S[pencer] Churchill, “I Leave the Army”, in My Early Life: A Roving Commission, London: Thornton Butterworth […], published...
The words they stopped me from uttering may have been very paltry indeed, hardly words to rouse the rabble.1980 October 27, J[ohn] M[axwell] Coetzee, chapter IV, in Waiting for the Barbarians, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books...

verbOriginally chiefly followed by up: to cause (an emotional reaction, a feeling, etc.); to excite, to incite, to stir up.

to rouse the emotions or passions
They had ceased to rouse ambition or misery.1961, V[idiadhar] S[urajprasad] Naipaul, “The Void”, in A House for Mr Biswas, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published...
If Cal had needed any more to rouse his ire, this fact was enough.1934, Zane Grey, chapter 3, in Code of the West, Roslyn, N.Y.: Walter J. Black, published 1962, →OCLC, page 36

verbSometimes followed by up: to wake (oneself or someone) from deep thought, or rest or sleep; to awaken.

He had been dozing a little but was roused by the lorry slowing down, sounding its horn, then swinging round into a road that was different from any they had been on so far.1929 July, J[ohn] B[oynton] Priestley, “Mr. Oakroyd on t’Road”, in The Good Companions, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.; London...
He was in bed, but they roused him, and he gave orders for one of his pilot engines to go up to the summit, get Mitchell's train, and take it to Carlisle.1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 53
Dubin slept through the ringing alarm, aware of Kitty trying to rouse him and then letting him sleep.1979, Bernard Malamud, chapter 8, in Dubin’s Lives, New York, N.Y.: Farrar Straus Giroux, →ISBN, page 284

verbSometimes followed by up: to cause (oneself) to be active or alert; to incite, to stir; also, to cause (oneself) to...

Martin roused himself and sat up and began to eat, between spoonfuls reassuring Maria that he had not been talking in his sleep and that he did not have any fever.1908 September – 1909 September, Jack London, chapter XL, in Martin Eden, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published September 1909...
But it was like trying to argue with a tree: she did not even rouse herself to deny, she just listened quietly and then talked again in that level, cold tone as if he had never spoken.1932, William Faulkner, chapter 12, in Light in August, [New York, N.Y.]: Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, →OCLC; republished London: Chatto &...

verbTo cause (game) to emerge from cover.

to rouse a deer or other animal of the chase

verbSometimes followed by up: to carry out a task, take action, etc.

'Well, well!' says I, kind of rousing up.1907, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Telemachus, Friend”, in Heart of the West, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company...

nounA full or large cup or glass of an alcoholic beverage, especially when drunk as a toast; a bumper.

to give a rouse to take one’s rouse

verbFollowed by at, on, etc.: to criticize severely; to tell off.

He roused on her for being late yet again.

More sentences with rouse

As everyone knew, he was capable of violence when roused.From the entry capable
I was roused from unconsciousness by the alarm clock.From the entry unconsciousness
She'd fall into fits of brooding and then jump, guiltylike, when she was roused.2012, Kate Ross, Cut to the Quick. From the entry guiltylike
However wolverine-like an unnapped child, he's a cherub compared to one roused from a short sleep.2006, C. R. Yeager, Breakfast at Noon: Backwards in the "Burbs", page 52. From the entry unnapped
“Keeping her away from us will only rouse her interest all the more,” Zarah stated flatly.1992, Judith Gould, Forever, Dutton, →ISBN, page 208. From the entry paparazza
General Peckem roused himself after a moment with an unctuous and benignant smile.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “Doc Daneeka”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 32. From the entry benignant
They were prick-eared animals, roused by her voice from their business and standing now at gaze.1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 52. From the entry at gaze
Thor rose from beside the rock with a prodigious whoof that roused Muskwa.1918, James Oliver Curwood, The Grizzly King. From the entry whoof
“My gentle spirit is roused to the accomplishment of great things.1903, Joseph Conrad, F. M. Hueffer, Romance. From the entry capataz
The cottage was a vessel aflood in roused power.1994, Janny Wurts, “[Elaira] Healing”, in Ships of Merior (The Wars of Light and Shadow; 2), New York, N.Y.: HarperPrism, published…. From the entry aflood
Consider popular enthusiasm roused by his demagogues and xenagogues.1969 October, Poul Anderson, chapter X, in The Rebel Worlds (Signet Science Fiction; T4041), New York, N.Y.: New American Library, →OCLC…. From the entry xenagogue
They'd be able to rouse her with black coffee.1966, Jacqueline Susann, Valley of the Dolls, pages 305–306. From the entry black coffee
But only last night a telephone call roused Mr.1960 June, James Kinross, “A Day in the Life of a Port Superintendent”, in Railway Magazine, page 421. From the entry strake
The building of the railway in this notable beauty spot roused the great Victorian writer John Ruskin to fury.1960 March, J. P. Wilson, E. N. C. Haywood, “The route through the Peak - Derby to Manchester: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 155. From the entry fury
But he was terribly roused too and bound to go on; he wasn’t just trifling but intended something.1953 September 18, Saul Bellow, chapter XIX, in The Adventures of Augie March […], New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, page 405. From the entry trifle
We hallooed again, to rouse the trapper.1917, Charles S. Brooks, There's Pippins And Cheese To Come. From the entry halloo
Remember the overthrow of the Manchus, when messages hidden in moon cakes roused the people to bring arms to the meeting place.2008, Chin Woon Ping, “Mooncakes and the Moon”, in Hakka Soul: Memories, Migrations, and Meals, Singapore: NUS Press, →ISBN, page 29. From the entry moon cake
When he felt the trappings being taken off him, so that he was in hunting order, Cully did make some movements as if to rouse.1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter I, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, book I (The Sword in…. From the entry covert
"Promises, especially from Joe Larkin, will go a long way, though they don't rouse the white hot enthusiasm that cold cash in the pocket does."1904, David Graham Phillips, chapter 19, in The Cost. From the entry cold cash
He roused Max from his Taipei hotel suite to tell him the change in plans and to meet the Oregon at the Bali District piers the following day.2013, Clive Cussler, Mirage (The Oregon Files) (Fiction), New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 350. From the entry Bali
However, if this display of the face does rouse temptation and charm, the woman has to veil her face as she does the rest of her body.1996, Status of women in Islam, Status of women in Islam, page 91. From the entry unveil
Rouse is doing his own thing: leading his own quartet with John Hicks on piano, Santi DeBriano on bass, and Ed Blackwell on drums, and playing his own compositions.1988 July 1, John S. Wilson, “Sounds Around Town”, in New York Times, retrieved 08 Dec 2019. From the entry do one's own thing
I roused Zero’s suspicions because I began to behave too much like a woman and he started to watch me warily for signs of the tribade.1977, Angela Carter, The Passion of New Eve. From the entry tribade
Now, hearing the man made conreate by that virile voice, her whole nature roused to defiance and to an oversweeping desire to see him face to face.1913, G. B Lancaster, The Law-bringers, Hodder and Stoughton, page 58. From the entry oversweeping
"It's just the very biggest thing that I ever heard of!" said I, though it was my journalistic rather than my scientific enthusiasm that was roused.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC. From the entry colossal

Meaning of rouse

verb To cause (something) to be (more) active or to move; to agitate, to stir up.
verb To stir (a liquid, especially (brewing) beer in the brewing process).
verb To provoke (someone) to react (for example, in anger or annoyance); to spur; also, to annoy, to tease.

Full definition of rouse

Questions about rouse in a sentence

How do you use rouse in a sentence?: Rouse is used as a verb, noun and adjective. For example: “He roused on her for being late yet again.”
What is a short sentence with rouse?: “to rouse the emotions or passions”
What does rouse mean?: Rouse means to cause (something) to be (more) active or to move; to agitate, to stir up.

Adapted from Wiktionary: rouse (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use rouse in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/rouse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.