spirited
Americanadjective
adjective
-
displaying animation, vigour, or liveliness
-
(in combination) characterized by mood, temper, or disposition as specified
high-spirited
public-spirited
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spirited
Explanation
Someone who's spirited is lively or enthusiastic. It can be challenging to babysit a bunch of spirited four-year-olds, but it's also entertaining. You can also call a spirited person energetic, animated, or spunky. Spirited people are often determined, too, like a spirited activist for animal rights or a spirited defender of free school lunches. Long ago, this adjective was also used to mean "possessed by a spirit or ghost." Today's sense of spirited comes from the original meaning of the verb spirit, "to make more active."
Vocabulary lists containing spirited
This Week in Words: March 9 - 15, 2019
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The Red Pencil
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Put on a Bold Face: Synonyms for "Brave"
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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.
The back-to-back European champions sliced through City with astonishing ease to take a 3-0 lead into half-time, and were still able to score another despite a spirited second-half fightback from the Premier League leaders.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
Our country has a long and famous history of spirited disputations and political acrimony; it is both a blessing and a curse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Since 1982, policymakers and prominent economists have gathered in this valley ringed by mountains in Grand Teton National Park -- known to most people more for its bison than for spirited debates on macroeconomics.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
Yes, “Spa Weekend” is a plate of reheated “Wedding Crashers” nachos, because no one stirs up cheerful chaos like the spirited Fisher.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Where she would have had a spirited argument only, an exchange of ideas, a clash of hard and different points of view with a friend, with him she had tried to destroy.
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
