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:
It was not just Bora -- police were also seen struggling to catch up with sprightly young protesters on streets.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
Its cast is exactly the sprightly ensemble needed to land its what-if laughs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
This delightful production, directed with a sprightly touch by Robert Falls, who led the Goodman for 35 years, glitters with the incisive wit that was a hallmark of Mr. Greenberg’s writing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026
From the outside, it's just a public leisure centre on the edge of town, with sprightly pensioners staying flexible in aerobics classes and excitable kids in for swimming lessons.
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2026
She shakes her head and continues in a sprightly tone, “We cannot sit here chattering, for Mother Ermentrude has requested that you be brought to her today.”
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
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
While dramatic series have become drearier, commercials have developed into the sprightliest little plays on television.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
Sightliest, sprightliest, lightest, and brightest one, Child of the summer sun, Shining afar!
From Voices for the Speechless by Abraham Firth
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.
