come alive
Idioms-
Also, come to life.
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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]
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Appear real or believable, as in It's really hard to make this prose come to life . Also see look alive .
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.
Williams said he was able to crack Newton’s killing by completely immersing himself in Newton’s life, and that Newton really came alive for him through that process.
From Los Angeles Times
Air traffic control’s communications came alive with surprised pilots who saw the accident, some of whom took photos and shot videos of the flaming streaks in the sky:
From Salon
“That’s what I lived for, to make this thing come alive.”
Read more: Is a new OpenAI deal what Amazon’s stock needs to finally come alive?
From MarketWatch
But when Brekke flips the switch to light up the theater marquee, this sleepy town comes alive, at least for the night.
From Salon
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.