exercise someone's mind

exercise | American Dictionary

exercise
noun
us/ˈek·sərˌsɑɪz/

exercisenoun (HEALTHY ACTIVITY)

[ C/U ]
(a) physical action performed to make or keep your body healthy:
[ U ]You should get some exercise even when you’re pregnant.
[ C ]I do five different exercises every morning to limber up.

exercisenoun (PRACTICE)

[ C ]
an action or actions intended to improve something or make something happen:
The military exercises will involve several thousand soldiers.
The whole thing was an exercise in futility (= actions that were useless).
[ C ]
An exercise can be written work that you do to practice something you are learning:
The book has exercises at the end of every chapter.

exercisenoun (USE)

[ U ]
the use of something:
The exercise of restraint in this situation may be difficult.
exercise
verb
us/ˈek·sərˌsɑɪz/

exerciseverb (DO HEALTHY ACTIVITY)

[ I/T ]
to do physical activities to make or keep your body healthy:
[ I ]She goes to the gym to exercise every evening.

exerciseverb (USE)

[ T ]fml
to use something:
Always exercise caution when handling poisonous substances.

exercise | Business English

exercise
verb
uk /ˈeksəsaɪz/us
[ I or T ]
to do physical activities to make your body strong and healthy:
This product is aimed at people who exercise on a regular basis.
[ T ]
to use something such as a right or choice:
exercise a right/power/choiceThe landlord may exercise his right to review the rent.
exercise power/control/influence (over sth)
 exercise an option
FINANCE
to buy or sell the shares, etc. that are mentioned in an options contract (= an agreement giving the right to buy and sell shares in the future):
Anyone who exercised such an option would immediately lose money.
exercise
noun
uk /ˈeksəsaɪz/us
[ C or U ]
physical activity that you do to make your body strong and healthy:
do/take exerciseThe office has a gym for those who like to do exercise in their lunch hour.
There are many types of equipment out there in the exercise market.
exercise equipment/machines
[ C ]
an action or actions intended to improve something or make something happen:
10,000 scientists and businessmen took part in an exercise to identify technology trends.
The outing was arranged by the firm as part of a team-building exercise.
a cost-cutting exercise
a brainstorming exercise
[ U ]formal
the use of something such as a right, choice, or power:
The document sets out guidelines on the exercise of voting rights.
[ U ]formal
the act of doing a particular job:
Many journalists have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
 the exercise of an option
FINANCE
the act of buying or selling the shares, etc. that are mentioned in an options contract (= an agreement giving the right to buy and sell shares in the future):
Shares will be transferred within 28 days of the exercise of an option.

Examples of exercise

exercise
The importance of the structuration theory for contextual archaeology is another example of the way in which our discipline can profit from such exercises.
Although she had tried these exercises previously, she had found them to be too exhausting and had described them as 'an impossible tor ture'.
Examples are relaxation exercises, constr uctive self-talk and pausing to rest.
To counter the 'music theory only' background that teachers bring with them, the teachers are encouraged to sing, move and create musical exercises.
Would teachers continue with the exercises in time and tune so slavishly?
Because the level was still low, parents themselves could quickly master the exercises their children had just performed.
Many actors make an enormous quantity of relaxation exercises.
Problems with the program and the design of the exercises were also solved.
However, extreme caution must be exercised when applying this scheme to other times and places.
Caution should be exercised where the dose is based on weight alone, since response to heparin is quite variable.
However, caution must be exercised before drawing any strong conclusions from these results because of the following possible caveats.
At any rate, caution must be exercised when inter preting a null effect.
Direct confrontation with workers always had a fair chance of being successful, precisely because of the pressures the market exercised on labour.
Nevertheless, the state may be justified in exercising some degree of "influence" over parental decisionmaking, via the practices of health professionals involved in newborn screening.
The control that pessimism exercises need not destroy creativity.
See all examples of exercise
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations withexercise

exercise

These are words often used in combination with exercise.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

academic exercise
The proposed distinction between the heritage industry and its indigenous counterpart is not merely an academicexercise.
adequate exercise
I gather that the proprietors may be even philanthropists who are anxious to provide for the adequate exercise of greyhounds.
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