noun
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the quality or condition of being vivacious
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rare (often plural) a vivacious act or expression
Etymology
Origin of vivacity
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin vīvācitās, equivalent to vīvāc- (stem of vīvāx long-lived, lively, equivalent to vīv ( us ) alive ( see vital) + -āx adj. suffix) + -i- -i- + -tās -ty 2
Explanation
If someone says you're full of vivacity, that means you have high spirits and are full of life. Your vivacity makes you a great comedic actor because you attack the stage with endless energy. Vivacity comes from the Latin vīvācitāt-, meaning "life force," and shares a root with the word vital. You may know from medical dramas that if someone's vital signs are not good, that means he's dying. But if he is full of vivacity, that means the opposite: he's totally energetically fully alive! If you don't have much vivacity, don't become a motivational speaker.
Vocabulary lists containing vivacity
"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
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A Streetcar Named Desire
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Stories of Ourselves
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ford Mobility and Vivacity Labs are using sensors in cars and on lampposts to track dangerous traffic hotspots with the aim of making roads safer.
From BBC • Oct. 18, 2021
On the relatively calm 161-mile stretch from Cat Cay to Sylvia Light, Max Aitken's Vivacity clung to a narrow lead, pursued by two Formula 233s.
From Time Magazine Archive
Daytona Marine engines; Vivacity, a 38-ft., diesel-powered Bertram owned by British Newspaper Publisher Max Aitken; and Rum Runner, a 31-ft. bomb, driven by Florida's Harold Abbott, whose twin 521-h.p.
From Time Magazine Archive
Vivacity of movement — a belligerent and combative spirit.
From Time Magazine Archive
Vivacity may, indeed, be said to be her specialty.
From Famous Prima Donnas by Strang, Lewis Clinton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
