sprite
Americannoun
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sprites
plural
noun
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(in folklore) a nimble elflike creature, esp one associated with water
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a small dainty person
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an icon in a computer game which can be manoeuvred around the screen by means of a joystick, etc
Synonym Usage
See fairy.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sprite
1400–1450; Middle English sprit, spreit, from Anglo-French spirit(e), Old French esprit, espirit(e), from Latin spīritus spirit
Explanation
A sprite is a spirit, a mythical, fairy-like creature who lives by the water. Sprites are supernatural and sometimes tricksy. Sprites are particularly common Western European folk tales, and one of the most famous literary sprites is Ariel from Shakespeare's The Tempest. Elves and fairies can be described as sprites, and so can the water nymphs from Ancient Greek mythology. Sprite comes from the Old French esprit, or "spirit," and the Latin root spiritus. An older alternate spelling, now obsolete, was spright, which led to the adjective sprightly, "animated or lively."
Vocabulary lists containing sprite
A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Artemis Fowl
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Mythology
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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:
He told us tales of big brinjals, bright pumpkin flowers, sprite okra that grew in the farmland in what’s now Bangladesh, where he grew up.
From Salon ● May 9, 2026
Local drag artist Adam Carver, also known as Fatt Butcher, plays the quick-witted sprite Puck, and admitted that they brought some of their drag persona to the role.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
Braid dandelions or daisies into a floral crown, and the wearer becomes a forest sprite.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2023
When Messi and team arrived, the sprite with all the ingenuity had scored six goals in World Cups yet none in any knockout rounds.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 17, 2022
The sprite had already begun to unlock some of the cages, and those who had been set free started to follow Kaede and her burden out of the cavern.
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
Early on, to some extent, sprites were simply dismissed as illusory before being found as authentic, albeit very strange.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 9, 2023
But the developers weren’t as limited when it came to how much they could put on screen and weren’t forced to do things like reuse animations or character sprites in the interest of saving memory.
From The Verge ● Jun. 18, 2022
After too many months ogling screens in my apartment, there was a surreal thrill to finally seeing people materialize before me as shipwrecked royals and island sprites.
From New York Times ● Sep. 17, 2021
A sport that once put a premium on the acrobatics of tiny, teenaged sprites has become more welcoming to women who are in their 20s, and it’s refreshing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2021
Even Chix Verbil and the other sprites were sidling out from behind their leader.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
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.
