excited

1. 1
   thrilledadjective

   Feeling intense enthusiasm and eagerness, and full of lively energy.

   Investors were excited by the company's strong earnings report.

   An excited crowd gathered outside the theater hours before the doors opened.

   UsageUsually excited about something or to do it. A person is excited; the event is exciting (not incorrect: I am exciting).

   Similarenthusiastic

   Oppositebored, indifferent, unenthusiastic, apathetic

2. 2
   worked upadjective

   Agitated or unsettled by a strong emotion such as alarm or anger, to the point of being unable to keep calm.

   Witnesses said the driver was excited and shouting when the officers arrived.

   There's no need to get excited; we can sort out the billing mistake in the morning.

   UsageDon't get excited and there's no need to get excited usually mean calm down, often said to someone angry or upset.

   Similaragitated, upset, overwrought

   Oppositecalm, composed

   Note

   Context separates it from the enthusiastic meaning: there's no need to get excited means calm down, and in a news report an excited driver is usually agitated, not happy. Because the same words cover both, a speaker who means anger or alarm usually lets the situation, or a word like upset, make it clear.

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of excite.

   The discovery of water on the moon excited scientists around the world.

   Talk of a championship run has excited fans across the city.

   Note

   One spelling does two grammatical jobs. It is the past tense (the news excited her) and the past participle, which follows have in perfects and be in passives (she was excited by it). The verb is transitive, so it takes an object, the thing that gets excited: a feeling, a crowd, or in physics an electron or an electromagnet. The adjectives grew from it: the enthusiastic sense and the higher-energy state. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Transitivity concerns the verb's object. In these examples, the feeling, crowd, electron or electromagnet is what is excited. en.wikipedia.org
   • The enthusiastic and higher-energy adjectives derive from excite. en.wiktionary.org
4. 4
   sexually arousedadjective

   Sexually aroused, especially (of a man) having an erection.

   By the time they reached the bedroom, he was so excited that he fumbled with the buttons on her blouse.

   She grew excited just from reading the novel's steamier chapters.

5. 5
   adjective

   Being in a state of higher energy than the lowest, or ground, state.

   An excited atom emits a photon as it falls back to its ground state.

   Ultraviolet light can leave certain molecules excited for a tiny fraction of a second.

   Note

   Physics uses the word for atoms, molecules, nuclei and other quantum systems sitting above their lowest energy level, usually after absorbing a photon, taking a collision or meeting an applied field. The fixed phrase is excited state, set against ground state, and a drop to a lower energy level can give off light. No feeling survives here: an excited electron simply has energy to give back. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Atoms, molecules, nuclei and other quantum systems can occupy excited states above their lowest energy. en.wikipedia.org
   • Photon absorption and collisions can produce excitation. imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov
   • An applied field can produce excitation. qsd.magnet.fsu.edu
   • A transition to a lower energy state can emit light, but relaxation can also occur without radiation. Light emission can also occur between two excited states. sist.sathyabama.ac.in

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