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:
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
Its cast is exactly the sprightly ensemble needed to land its what-if laughs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
The legs have not looked as sprightly as they once did.
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2025
His sprightly text, ably translated from the French by Arielle Aaronson, may crack a smile on even the most stone-faced among us.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
She had started to gain weight, and what had once been a sprightly step had begun to slow.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
In all-wheel-drive form, the RDX is a bit sprightlier around corners than the GV70.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 17, 2022
For their second outing, the much sprightlier “The Devil May Dance,” he’s jumped ahead to the early 1960s and more glamorous locations.
From New York Times ● May 8, 2021
It begins with “The 1,” a stoic look back at a fizzled romance, which moves at a lope, nudged along by ringing piano chords and one of the album’s sprightlier beats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 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
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
While dramatic series have become drearier, commercials have developed into the sprightliest little plays on television.
From Time Magazine Archive
They appear on the labels of some of the most intrepid clothes around, and they belong to two of the sprightliest newcomers anywhere on the fashion map.
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 was one of the brightest and sprightliest and wittiest of women.
From Autobiography of Seventy Years, Vol. 1-2 by George Frisbie Hoar
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.
