Word of the Day

: December 19, 2013

vivacious

adjective vuh-VAY-shus

What It Means

: lively in temper, conduct, or spirit : sprightly

vivacious in Context

The hostess was a pretty, vivacious woman with a knack for making people feel comfortable.

"Jennifer Lawrence may be everyone's hilarious, exuberant spirit animal, but it turns out the Oscar-winning actress wasn't always vivacious and outgoing. In fact, she tells French magazine Madame Figaro, she suffered from social anxiety growing up." - From an article in the Huffington Post, November 19, 2013

Did You Know?

It's no surprise that "vivacious" means "full of life," since it can be traced back to the Latin verb "vivere," meaning "to live." The word was created around the mid-17th century using the Latin adjective "vivax," meaning "long-lived, vigorous, or high-spirited." Other descendants of "vivere" in English include "survive," "revive," and "victual"-all of which came to life during the 15th century-and "vivid" and "convivial," both of which surfaced around the same time as "vivacious." Somewhat surprisingly, the word "live" is not related; it comes to us from the Old English word "libban."