create, make - make or cause to be or to become; "make a mess in one's office"; "create a furor"

touch a chord, strike a chord - evoke a reaction, response, or emotion; "this writer strikes a chord with young women"; "The storyteller touched a chord"

ask for, invite - increase the likelihood of; "ask for trouble"; "invite criticism"

draw - elicit responses, such as objections, criticism, applause, etc.; "The President's comments drew sharp criticism from the Republicans"; "The comedian drew a lot of laughter"

rekindle - arouse again; "rekindle hopes"; "rekindle her love"

infatuate - arouse unreasoning love or passion in and cause to behave in an irrational way; "His new car has infatuated him"; "love has infatuated her"

prick - to cause a sharp emotional pain; "The thought of her unhappiness pricked his conscience"

fire up, stir up, wake, heat, ignite, inflame - arouse or excite feelings and passions; "The ostentatious way of living of the rich ignites the hatred of the poor"; "The refugees' fate stirred up compassion around the world"; "Wake old feelings of hatred"

stimulate, stir, shake up, shake, excite - stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of; "These stories shook the community"; "the civil war shook the country"

excite - arouse or elicit a feeling

anger - make angry; "The news angered him"

discomfit, discompose, untune, upset, disconcert - cause to lose one's composure

shame - cause to be ashamed

spite, wound, bruise, injure, offend, hurt - hurt the feelings of; "She hurt me when she did not include me among her guests"; "This remark really bruised me ego"

overwhelm, sweep over, whelm, overpower, overtake, overcome - overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli

interest - excite the curiosity of; engage the interest of

bring up, call down, conjure, conjure up, invoke, call forth, put forward, arouse, evoke, stir, raise - evoke or call forth, with or as if by magic; "raise the specter of unemployment"; "he conjured wild birds in the air"; "stir a disturbance"; "call down the spirits from the mountain"

cause, do, make - give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always intentionally; "cause a commotion"; "make a stir"; "cause an accident"

pick - provoke; "pick a fight or a quarrel"

entice, lure, tempt - provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion; "He lured me into temptation"

rejuvenate - cause (a stream or river) to erode, as by an uplift of the land

jog - stimulate to remember; "jog my memory"

instigate, incite, stir up, set off - provoke or stir up; "incite a riot"; "set off great unrest among the people"

challenge - issue a challenge to; "Fischer challenged Spassky to a match"

agitate, foment, stir up - try to stir up public opinion

needle, goad - goad or provoke,as by constant criticism; "He needled her with his sarcastic remarks"

annoy, devil, gravel, irritate, nark, rile, vex, nettle, rag, bother, chafe, get at, get to - cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations; "Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me"; "It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves"

bedevil, dun, rag, torment, frustrate, crucify - treat cruelly; "The children tormented the stuttering teacher"

haze - harass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions