sprightly
Americanadjective
adverb
adjective
adverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sprightly
Explanation
To be sprightly is to be full of youthful, vibrant energy. You don’t have to be young to be sprightly, though, energetic old people can be sprightly, too. Weeeeeee! The word sprightly comes from the word sprite, which is a small, elf-like fairy creature. If someone acts like a happy little fairy, has a lot of enthusiasm, and acts in a youthful way, she’s sprightly. To be sprightly is to be full of spirit and vitality, to be happy, and to have a positive attitude. Someone who radiates energy and positivity is sprightly.
Vocabulary lists containing sprightly
Things Fall Apart
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Smiley Face: Synonyms for "Happy"
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Stargirl
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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.
See Examples For:
Taking a cue from nickelodeon piano players, composer John Powell steers the mood with a vibrantly eclectic score of sprightly ragtime, violin pathos and popcorn crescendos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Another of his horses was named in the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest 10-metre dash while on hind legs -- a sprightly 4.19 seconds.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
The legs have not looked as sprightly as they once did.
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2025
Though Godard later came to be synonymous with turgid, obtuse cinema, “Nouvelle Vague” is the opposite: a sprightly, effervescent ode to moviemaking as semi-controlled mischief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
Little Hamlet is a sprightly child with his father’s dark hair and Gertrude’s gray eyes.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
In all-wheel-drive form, the RDX is a bit sprightlier around corners than the GV70.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 17, 2022
Though Grande’s subject matter shifts after “Shut Up,” the song’s Disney-like strings carry through the rest of “Positions,” which is brighter and sprightlier than the comparatively bleary “Thank U, Next.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2020
“I haven’t been home in a couple of weeks,” he says, sounding sprightlier than you might expect.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 5, 2020
At fifty-two, she is sprightlier than her more serious work suggests, a quality that helps earn the trust of her subjects, whether in Africa or in coal country.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 20, 2017
Miss Whitlaw seemed to lose ten years and become sprightlier.
From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep
And the rhythmic and harmonic quirkiness of the two Contredanses made the sprightliest movements in the Bach, Handel and Muffat works sound staid.
From New York Times ● Oct. 17, 2011
In a disapproving review last week, Conservative Columnist William F. Buckley Jr. accused Reeves of exaggeration but nonetheless placed him "among the two or three sprightliest political writers in America."
From Time Magazine Archive
Mary is Debbie Reynolds, giving one of her sprightliest performances as the wickedly witty, nearly divorced wife of Publisher Barry Nelson, who repeats his stage role in sharp, swinging style.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the days of Alva Johnston and of Stanley Walker, the Trib's city coverage was the sprightliest in town.
From Time Magazine Archive
She took the ring—she slipp'd it on—and said, in sprightliest tone, "I'll have thee and thy golden ring, and be thy faithful one."
From An Anthology of Jugoslav Poetry; Serbian Lyrics by Various
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.
