vivify

American  

[viv-uh-fahy] / ˈvɪv əˌfaɪ /

verb (used with object)

vivified, vivifying

1. to give life to; animate; quicken.

2. to enliven; brighten; sharpen.

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vivify British  

/ ˌvɪvɪfɪ'keɪʃən, ˈvɪvɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. to bring to life; animate

2. to make more vivid or striking

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Other Word Forms

• vivification
  noun
• vivifier
  noun
• unvivified
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of vivify

First recorded in 1535–45; late Middle English from Middle French vivifier from Late Latin vīvificāre ). See vivi-, -fy ( def. )

Explanation

When you vivify something, you bring new excitement or life to it. If you decide to liven up your boring apartment by painting the walls every color of the rainbow, you can say that you're trying to vivify your home. You might vivify your family's meals by experimenting with exotic spices or vivify your school by hiring circus performers to ride unicycles up and down the halls. The Latin root word of vivify is vivus, or "alive," which is also the origin of the closely related word vivid.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vivify vivified vivifying

“Like a novelist,” Rafferty wrote, “he finds the human details that vivify the character.”

From Washington Post ● Mar. 9, 2020

The McBurneys here did much to vivify the drama, sometimes vaguely, sometimes, as in a Los Angeles film scene, overly specific.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2020

Two moving and expansive books about enduring American symbols vivify abstract ideas through surprisingly specific images.

From New York Times ● Sep. 4, 2018

He will vivify the church by creating a vacuum.

From Slate ● Jan. 12, 2017

They should vivify and deepen the sense of the one relationship he does feel keenly,—that of himself to something well-known.

From Here and Now Story Book Two- to seven-year-olds by Van Loon, Hendrik Willem

Elizabeth II’s 1953 coronation ceremony vivified for war-fatigued Britain the collective sentiments that make a community.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 8, 2022

However, the graceful Croatian was vivified into a grinding fightback in the second set, saving four break points and was one point away from levelling in the 10th game.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 28, 2018

In Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power, the eminent presidential historian Robert Dallek has deftly vivified the two practitioners of realpolitik and their world.

From Forbes ● Jun. 13, 2014

The movie is a grim diptych of damaged daughter and destructive mother that is vivified only by the transcendent performances.

From New York Times ● Apr. 28, 2011

And for this reason therefore our educational reforms which are inspired by the teachings of modern idealistic philosophy demand that the school be animated and vivified by the spiritual breath of the fatherland.

From The Reform of Education by Gentile, Giovanni

Opie’s backdrop is a damask drapery in dark green, red’s vivifying complementary color.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2024

But Gurnah avoids that misstep by gently vivifying the lives of a few African characters in all their rich humanity and even their comedy, without sentimentality or condescension.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 23, 2022

Bowers’ works typically create a vivifying tautness between the individual and the group.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2022

She’s the kind of deranged character whose vivifying presence would make enduring even the most boring high school reunion worthwhile.

From New York Times ● Jun. 27, 2014

That which men call energy, the vivifying principle of matter, is indestructible.

From Joseph Smith as Scientist A Contribution to Mormon Philosophy by Widtsoe, John Andreas