ebullience
Americannoun
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high spirits; exhilaration; exuberance.
-
a boiling over; overflow.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ebullience
First recorded in 1740–50; ebulli(ent) + -ence
Explanation
Bubbly, loud, and enthusiastic, ebullience means "the quality of being cheerful and full of energy." Take a room full of seven-year-olds and add a bunch of adorable puppies, and you'll end up with ebullience. The Latin word ebullientem, which ebullience comes from, literally means "boiling over." When you see ebullience, you know it; it's not simply happiness or enjoyment, but those emotions bubbling up and overflowing.
Vocabulary lists containing ebullience
Lord of the Flies
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Grade 11, List 4
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Novel Study: Lord of the Flies, Chapters 1–4
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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.
But no matter the score, they are all endowed with ebullience, charm and color under his baton.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025
“Am I Roxie?,” performed by Ortega with unflagging ebullience in an athletic-wear jumpsuit designed for comfort rather than style, brings to the exhausting, guilt-inducing grind of eldercare her own cultural spin.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 13, 2025
But medical breakthroughs are rarely straightforward, and the ebullience surrounding GLP-1 agonists is tinged with uncertainty and even some foreboding.
From Science Magazine • Dec. 13, 2023
Favorite venues: “I want to stress that I love every comedy space in Seattle,” said Mejia, listing them off with an ebullience that came through the phone.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 28, 2023
The applause, perhaps, lacked something of the vigor, the generosity and celebratory ebullience it had in my previous performance.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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.
