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Synonyms

joie de vivre

American  
[zhwaduh vee-vruh] / ʒwadə ˈvi vrə /

noun

French.
  1. a delight in being alive; keen, carefree enjoyment of living.


joie de vivre British  
/ ʒwa də vivrə /

noun

  1. joy of living; enjoyment of life; ebullience

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

joie de vivre Cultural  
  1. A love of life. From French, meaning “joy of living.”


Etymology

Origin of joie de vivre

Literally, “joy of living”

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.

See Examples For:

"The money was less than it was the previous year. She just lost her joie de vivre."

From BBC Jun. 29, 2026

Organizers sought not only to remind the world that the Olympics were about joie de vivre, but also that the project didn’t need to be a $50 billion boondoggle.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 15, 2026

The result, Madigan says, is a woman with “a certain joie de vivre about her,” who doesn’t care about what others think of her.

From Los Angeles Times Nov. 25, 2025

And in so doing, we lose our enjoyment of the moment, our buoyancy, our joie de vivre.

From Salon Sep. 12, 2024

Solid, monumental like his grandfathers, but with a joie de vivre and an irresistible good humor that they did not have, Aureliano Segundo scarcely had time to look after his animals.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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