arousal (n.)

  1. the act of arousing; the purpose of art is the arousal of emotions

    [ Syn: rousing ]

  2. a state of heightened physiological activity

  3. awakening from sleep

  4. mutual sexual fondling prior to sexual intercourse

    [ Syn: foreplay , stimulation ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.