verve
Americannoun
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enthusiasm or vigor, as in literary or artistic work; spirit.
Her latest novel lacks verve.
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vivaciousness; liveliness; animation.
I like a teacher with plenty of verve.
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Archaic. talent.
noun
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great vitality, enthusiasm, and liveliness; sparkle
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a rare word for talent
Etymology
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
Explanation
If something has an energetic style or vitality, you can say it has verve. Dancers are noted for their verve on the stage. Morticians? Not so much. Similar words to verve include vim, vigor, and élan. Verve comes from the Latin root word verba, meaning "words," and in English originally meant a special talent in writing. Although the "special talent" sense is now archaic, verve is still an excellent choice to describe a writing style.
Vocabulary lists containing verve
"The Hunger Games" Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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"Marigolds"
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "V"
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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.
The Detroit tapes turned up decades later in the Verve vaults.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026
I’m doing Verve Coffee that I’m grinding there, and then I’m brewing four cups because I need my coffee.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
The opening day of the festival takes place on 19 June at Glasgow Green, with former Verve singer Richard Ashcroft the headline act.
From BBC • Mar. 3, 2026
That history explains why Lilly is now buying technologies aimed far into the future, including moonshot bets such as Verve Therapeutics’ gene-editing platform.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 18, 2025
But classical music’s DNA is also embedded everywhere in the popular mainstream, whether in the stage musical, the cinema or in the albums of, say, The Beades, Paul Simon, The Verve or Alicia Keys.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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.
