| / English Dictionary |
SPIRIT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A fundamental emotional and activating principle determining one's character
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):
character; fiber; fibre (the inherent complex of attributes that determines a persons moral and ethical actions and reactions)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirit"):
braveness; bravery; courage; courageousness (a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear)
cowardice; cowardliness (the trait of lacking courage)
Derivation:
spiritize (imbue with a spirit)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An inclination or tendency of a certain kind
Example:
he had a change of heart
Synonyms:
heart; spirit
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):
disposition; temperament (your usual mood)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Animation and energy in action or expression
Example:
it was a heavy play and the actors tried in vain to give life to it
Synonyms:
life; liveliness; spirit; sprightliness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):
animation; brio; invigoration; spiritedness; vivification (quality of being active or spirited or alive and vigorous)
Attribute:
lively (full of life and energy)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirit"):
ginger; pep; peppiness (liveliness and energy)
ebullience; enthusiasm; exuberance (overflowing with eager enjoyment or approval)
high-spiritedness (exuberant liveliness)
buoyancy; irrepressibility (irrepressible liveliness and good spirit)
breeziness; jauntiness (a breezy liveliness)
esprit (liveliness of mind or spirit)
elan (enthusiastic and assured vigor and liveliness)
energy; muscularity; vigor; vigour; vim (an imaginative lively style (especially style of writing))
alacrity; briskness; smartness (liveliness and eagerness)
airiness; delicacy (lightness in movement or manner)
pertness (quality of being lively and confident)
Derivation:
spirit (infuse with spirit)
spiritize (imbue with a spirit)
Sense 4
Meaning:
The intended meaning of a communication
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):
import; meaning; significance; signification (the message that is intended or expressed or signified)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Any incorporeal supernatural being that can become visible (or audible) to human beings
Synonyms:
disembodied spirit; spirit
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):
spiritual being; supernatural being (an incorporeal being believed to have powers to affect the course of human events)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirit"):
zombi; zombi spirit; zombie; zombie spirit ((voodooism) a spirit or supernatural force that reanimates a dead body)
thunderbird ((mythology) the spirit of thunder and lightning believed by some Native Americans to take the shape of a great bird)
silvan; sylvan (a spirit that lives in or frequents the woods)
python (a soothsaying spirit or a person who is possessed by such a spirit)
numen (a spirit believed to inhabit an object or preside over a place (especially in ancient Roman religion))
kachina (a deified spirit of the Pueblo people)
presence (an invisible spiritual being felt to be nearby)
apparition; fantasm; phantasm; phantasma; phantom; specter; spectre (a ghostly appearing figure)
peri ((Persian folklore) a supernatural being descended from fallen angels and excluded from paradise until penance is done)
familiar; familiar spirit (a spirit (usually in animal form) that acts as an assistant to a witch or wizard)
djinn; djinni; djinny; genie; jinnee; jinni ((Islam) an invisible spirit mentioned in the Koran and believed by Muslims to inhabit the earth and influence mankind by appearing in the form of humans or animals)
banshee; banshie ((Irish folklore) a female spirit who wails to warn of impending death)
evil spirit (a spirit tending to cause harm)
control (a spiritual agency that is assumed to assist the medium during a seance)
Derivation:
spiritual (resembling or characteristic of a phantom)
Sense 6
Meaning:
The vital principle or animating force within living things
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):
life principle; vital principle (a hypothetical force to which the functions and qualities peculiar to living things are sometimes ascribed)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirit"):
psyche; soul (the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life)
Derivation:
spiritize (imbue with a spirit)
Sense 7
Meaning:
The state of a person's emotions (especially with regard to pleasure or dejection)
Example:
his spirit rose
Synonyms:
emotional state; spirit
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):
emotion (any strong feeling)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirit"):
embarrassment (the state of being embarrassed (usually by some financial inadequacy))
ecstasy; exaltation; rapture; raptus; transport (a state of being carried away by overwhelming emotion)
gratification; satisfaction (state of being gratified or satisfied)
felicity; happiness (state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy)
state (a state of depression or agitation)
unhappiness (state characterized by emotions ranging from mild discontentment to deep grief)
Derivation:
spirit (infuse with spirit)
Sense 8
Meaning:
The general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people
Example:
it had the smell of treason
Synonyms:
feel; feeling; flavor; flavour; look; smell; spirit; tone
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):
ambiance; ambience; atmosphere (a particular environment or surrounding influence)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirit"):
Hollywood (a flashy vulgar tone or atmosphere believed to be characteristic of the American film industry)
Zeitgeist (the spirit of the time; the spirit characteristic of an age or generation)
Derivation:
spirit (infuse with spirit)
spiritize (imbue with a spirit)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they spirit ... he / she / it spirits
Past simple: spirited
Past participle: spirited
-ing form: spiriting
Sense 1
Meaning:
Infuse with spirit
Example:
The company spirited him up
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "spirit" is one way to...):
animate; enliven; invigorate; liven; liven up (make lively)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Derivation:
spirit (animation and energy in action or expression)
spirit (the state of a person's emotions (especially with regard to pleasure or dejection))
spirit (the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people)
Context examples:
They were all in the best of spirits, and laughed and chatted together.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Calm and sure they were as her spirit itself.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
It was a merry, joyous party, and no one seemed in higher spirits than Captain Wentworth.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
He turned and fled away, not from the hurt of the fire, but from the laughter that sank even deeper, and hurt in the spirit of him.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
I'm disappointed in you, and haven't spirits to see your father now.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
If he had but been able to look to a distance, and see how what they call the spirit of the age was tending!
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
"Curupuri is the spirit of the woods," Lord John explained.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was really calculated to break his spirit, he said afterwards.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
We all seemed to find our spirits rise.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
John has charming spirits, has not he?
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
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