Adjacent Words

Enliven definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ENLI'VEN, v.t. enli'vn. [from life, live.] Literally, to give life. Hence,
1. To give action or motion to; to make vigorous or active; to excite; as, fresh fuel enlivens a fire.
2. To give spirit or vivacity to; to animate; to make sprightly. social mirth and good humor enliven company; they enliven the dull and gloomy.
3. To make cheerful, gay or joyous.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: heighten or intensify; "These paintings exalt the imagination" [syn: inspire, animate, invigorate, enliven, exalt]
2: make lively; "let's liven up this room a bit" [syn: enliven, liven, liven up, invigorate, animate] [ant: blunt, deaden]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Date: 1604 to give life, action, or spirit to ; animate <fresh flowers enliven the room> Synonyms: see quicken

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 give life or spirit to. 2 make cheerful, brighten (a picture or scene). Derivatives: enlivener n. enlivenment n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Enliven En*liv"en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Enlivened; p. pr. & vb. n. Enlivening.] [Pref. en- + liven.]. 1. To give life, action, or motion to; to make vigorous or active; to excite; to quicken; as, fresh fuel enlivens a fire. Lo! of themselves th' enlivened chessmen move. --Cowley. 2. To give spirit or vivacity to; to make sprightly, gay, or cheerful; to animate; as, mirth and good humor enliven a company; enlivening strains of music. Syn: To animate; rouse; inspire; cheer; encourage; comfort; exhilarate; inspirit; invigorate.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(enlivens, enlivening, enlivened) To enliven events, situations, or people means to make them more lively or cheerful. Even the most boring meeting was enlivened by Dan's presence. VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Quicken, animate, wake, rouse, invigorate, give life to. 2. Inspire, inspirit, exhilarate, cheer, delight, gladden.

Moby Thesaurus

amuse, animate, arouse, awaken, beguile, boost, brace, brace up, brighten, brisk, brisken, buck up, buoy up, cheer, cheer up, chirk up, convulse, delight, divert, dynamize, electrify, embue, encourage, energize, enkindle, entertain, excite, exhilarate, fillip, fire, fire up, fortify, fracture one, fresh up, freshen, freshen up, galvanize, give a lift, gladden, hearten, imbue, infect, inflame, inform, infuse, infuse life into, inject, inoculate, inspire, inspirit, invigorate, jazz up, kill, kindle, knock dead, liven, loosen up, pep up, perk up, pick up, pique, provoke, quicken, raise a laugh, raise a smile, reanimate, recreate, refresh, refreshen, regale, reinvigorate, rejoice, rejoice the heart, rejuvenate, relax, renew, restore, resuscitate, revive, revivify, rouse, set up, sharpen, slay, snap up, solace, spirit, spirit up, stimulate, tickle, titillate, uplift, vitalize, vivify, wake up, warm, whet, wow, zip up