come alive

Idioms  

1. Also, come to life.

2. Become vigorous or lively. For example, It took some fast rhythms to make the dancers come alive , or As soon as he mentioned ice cream, the children came to life . The adjective alive has been used in the sense of “vivacious” since the 1700s. Also, the variant originally (late 1600s) meant “to recover from a faint or apparent death.” [ Colloquial ; first half of 1900s]

3. Appear real or believable, as in It's really hard to make this prose come to life . Also see look alive .

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Example Sentences

The sun was beginning to set as we drove back to the paramedic base, and a city that once came alive at night, would soon be deserted.

From BBC

The forward was held to two points in the first half, but he came alive late to finish with 18 points.

From Los Angeles Times

That’s what he brought that day at Union College as he spoke about the need for young America “to come alive” to effect change in the country.

From Salon

Here, he shares his favorite places to stay, eat and explore for a day in Melbourne, a city that comes alive during race weekend.

From The Wall Street Journal

Part of that diminished firepower was on account of its star freshman’s illness, as Arenas looked nothing like the player who came alive over the last two weeks.

From Los Angeles Times