wellspring

[wel-spring]

noun

1. the head or source of a spring, stream, river, etc.; fountainhead.

2. a source or supply of anything, especially when considered inexhaustible.

   a wellspring of affection.

wellspring

/ ˈwɛlˌsprɪŋ /

noun

1. the source of a spring or stream; fountainhead

2. a source of continual or abundant supply

Word History and Origins

Origin of wellspring¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English welle spring, Old English wyllspring(e); well ², spring

Word History and Origins

Origin of wellspring¹

Old English welspryng, wylspring; see _well ², _spring

Example Sentences

The everyday tools of the kitchen can be connected to powerful memories and wellsprings of feeling.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"Make no mistake, Erivo remains a powerhouse, with pipes that shake the heavens and a wellspring of unforced emotional intensity that never runs dry."

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Angela’s vivid mood swings are a wellspring of entertainment; Tommy associates her phone number with an orchestral ringtone that sounds like a horror movie jump scare.

Read more on Salon

The 18th-century cult of reason met its match in the 19th century’s devotion to feeling—including suffering—as the wellspring of life and truth.

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The organization has served as the ideological wellspring of modern Sunni Islamism since its founding in Egypt in 1928, with stated goals of establishing a global caliphate governed by sharia law.

Read more on Los Angeles Times