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• carpe diem
  carpe diem

  seize the day; enjoy the present, as opposed to placing all hope in the future.
• Carpe diem
  Carpe diem

  Latin for “Seize the day”: take full advantage of present opportunities. This sentiment is found not only in classical literature but in much of English literature as well (see “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” and “Had we but world enough, and time, / This coyness, Lady, were no crime.”)

carpe diem

American  

[kahr-pe dee-em, kahr-pee dahy-uhm, kahr-pey dee-uhm] / ˈkɑr pɛ ˈdi ɛm, ˈkɑr pi ˈdaɪ əm, ˈkɑr peɪ ˈdi əm /

1. Latin. seize the day; enjoy the present, as opposed to placing all hope in the future.

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carpe diem British  

/ ˈkɑːpɪ ˈdiːɛm /

1. enjoy the pleasures of the moment, without concern for the future

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Carpe diem Cultural  

1. Latin for “Seize the day”: take full advantage of present opportunities. This sentiment is found not only in classical literature but in much of English literature as well (see “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” and “Had we but world enough, and time, / This coyness, Lady, were no crime.”)

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carpe diem Idioms  

1. Enjoy the present and don't worry about the future, as in It's a beautiful day, so forget tomorrow's test—carpe diem! Latin for “seize the day,” an aphorism found in the Roman writer Horace's Odes, this phrase has been used in English since the early 1800s.

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Usage

What does carpe diem mean? Carpe diem is a Latin phrase meaning "seize the day." The saying is used to encourage someone to make the most of the present rather than dwelling on the future.

Etymology

Origin of carpe diem

First recorded in 1815–20; literally, “pluck (the fruit of) the day,” from Horace's Odes (1.9)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

carpe diem Carpe diem

The girl’s name comes from carpe diem, as in Kenna’s vow to seize the child she never got to hold, but the script has the restraint not to make a big standing-on-a-desk speech about that.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026

A tattoo in Latin on his right arms reads "carpe diem", or "seize the day".

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2022

It’s a carpe diem festival — a reminder of impermanence, as the petals shatter and drop.

From Seattle Times ● May 10, 2022

Her instructions to Leif include a lot of carpe diem stuff that you yourself have likely heard a thousand times, even if you don’t have a hippie in your life.

From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2021

Never so poignantly had he felt the insistence of the carpe diem.

From The Rules of the Game by White, Stewart Edward

It’s a message we can all carry into our week: Carpe diem.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2019

Carpe diem — Byron and the Shelleys surely would have concurred — for how many summers do we have?

From New York Times ● May 27, 2011

Carpe diem — Latin for "seize the day" and on her left arm — seems easy enough.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 20, 2010

If he continues to sing Carpe diem when at the age of thirty he is already an old, diseased man, he sings it almost with a sneer of hatred.

From Old and New Masters by Lynd, Robert

The grace of spring, the richness of autumn are but for a moment, and worldly moralists bid us Carpe diem, for we shall have no second opportunity.

From An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine by Newman, John Henry Cardinal