verve

[vurv]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR verve ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

enthusiasm or vigor, as in literary or artistic work; spirit: Her latest novel lacks verve.

vivaciousness; liveliness; animation: I like a teacher with plenty of verve.

Archaic. talent.

Nearby words

Origin of verve

1690–1700; < French: enthusiasm, whim, chatter, apparently < Latin verba words, talk, plural (taken in VL as feminine singular) of verbum word; see verb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for verve

A new history tells their remarkable story with sensitivity and verve writes Wendy Smith.
Women Without Race: ‘Miss Anne in Harlem’|Wendy Smith|September 19, 2013|DAILY BEAST
And so the question now is not only whether Ryan can reenergize the Romney campaign with his vision and verve.
Will Paul Ryan Help Romney With Blue-Collar Whites?|Andrew Romano|August 27, 2012|DAILY BEAST
And a candidate with some verve— Michele Bachmann comes to mind—is catnip for the cameras.
All the Also-Rans for President|Jack W. Germond|March 29, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Where the Austin building is nuanced and almost spectral, Bakersfield is all verve and gesture.
Obama's Building Boom: Will His Architecture Legacy Be as Lasting as FDR's?|Ian Volner|January 4, 2011|DAILY BEAST

What is more, she writes with verve, tongue-in-cheek humor, and elegance.
All Hail Cleopatra!|Michael Korda|November 5, 2010|DAILY BEAST
The toast was drunk with indescribable enthusiasm and verve.
The Socialist|Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull
It pictured native life with verve, skill, keenness of insight, and fine pictorial view.
A Text-Book of the History of Painting|John C. Van Dyke
His voluminous correspondence, mostly in MS., is remarkable for its verve and picturesque quality.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 7|Various
He drew what he deserved—a sullen, scared old tomcat with none of the verve of Captain Wow.
The Game of Rat and Dragon|Cordwainer Smith
Verve, verv, n. the enthusiasm which animates a poet or artist: animation: energy.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements)|Various

British Dictionary definitions for verve

verve

noun

great vitality, enthusiasm, and liveliness; sparkle

a rare word for talent

Word Origin for verve

C17: from Old French: garrulity, from Latin verba words, chatter

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for verve

verve

1690s, "special talent in writing," from French verve "enthusiasm" (especially pertaining to the arts), in Old French "caprice, odd humor, proverb" (12c.), probably from Gallo-Romance *verva, from Latin verba "(whimsical) words," plural of verbum "word" (see verb). Meaning "mental vigor" is first recorded 1803.