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vivify

[viv-uh-fahy]
verb (used with object), viv·i·fied, viv·i·fy·ing.
  1. to give life to; animate; quicken.
  2. to enliven; brighten; sharpen.
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Origin of vivify

1535–45; alteration (with -fy for -ficate) of late Middle English vivificate < Latin vīvificātus (past participle of vīvificāre). See vivi-, -ficate
Related formsviv·i·fi·ca·tion, nounviv·i·fi·er, nounun·viv·i·fied, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

invigorate, animate, revive, refresh, quicken

Examples from the Web for vivified

Historical Examples

  • Every trait is refined, purified, vivified, raised to another plane of character.

    Holbein

    Beatrice Fortescue

  • He vivified, by potentialities at least, the whole question of youth and passion.

  • There is no durable system that is not, at least in some of its parts, vivified by intuition.

    Creative Evolution

    Henri Bergson

  • He looked at her pretty face and it vivified his mental resources.

    Sister Carrie

    Theodore Dreiser

  • He wanted to see again that woman who had so vivified his memory of Joan.

    The Branding Iron

    Katharine Newlin Burt

British Dictionary definitions for vivified

vivify

verb -fies, -fying or -fied (tr)
  1. to bring to life; animate
  2. to make more vivid or striking
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Derived Formsvivification (ˌvɪvɪfɪ'keɪʃən), nounvivifier, noun

Word Origin

C16: from Late Latin vīvificāre, from Latin vīvus alive + facere to make
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 vivified

vivify

v.

1590s, from Old French vivifier (12c.), from Late Latin vivificare "make alive, restore to life," from vivificus "enlivening," from Latin vivus "alive" (see vivid) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Vivificate in same sense is recorded from early 15c.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper