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

"It's the magical stage, when the clothes start to come alive," she said, her blue eyes lighting up her face framed by long dark hair.

From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026

And yet, the communities and ecosystems that come alive in Ward’s work make you want to be with her people and creatures.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2026

Read more: Is a new OpenAI deal what Amazon’s stock needs to finally come alive?

From MarketWatch • Dec. 30, 2025

What they don't have enough of is warriors who come alive when things are going awry.

From BBC • Nov. 20, 2025

There is something about a dying forest that’s sad, no matter how many times I reassure myself that it will come alive again in spring.

From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King