noun
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the quality or condition of being vivacious
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rare (often plural) a vivacious act or expression
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of vivacity
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin vīvācitās, equivalent to vīvāc- (stem of vīvāx long-lived, lively, equivalent to vīv ( us ) alive ( see vital) + -āx adj. suffix) + -i- -i- + -tās -ty 2
Explanation
If someone says you're full of vivacity, that means you have high spirits and are full of life. Your vivacity makes you a great comedic actor because you attack the stage with endless energy. Vivacity comes from the Latin vīvācitāt-, meaning "life force," and shares a root with the word vital. You may know from medical dramas that if someone's vital signs are not good, that means he's dying. But if he is full of vivacity, that means the opposite: he's totally energetically fully alive! If you don't have much vivacity, don't become a motivational speaker.
Vocabulary lists containing vivacity
"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
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A Streetcar Named Desire
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Stories of Ourselves
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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.
See Examples For:
To put it plainly: Julian’s imitations lacked the vivacity that made his art unique, resulting in an uncanny dissonance between idea and result.
From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2026
She said the 76-year old mother-of-four and grandmother-of-five was "a phenomenal person - full of vivacity and fun".
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2024
The collection evokes the vivacity of music and nightlife, featuring American archetypal pieces from leather biker jackets to bright graphic tees along with leopard print and the familiar electric colors of rave culture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2023
Her creations combine the playful vivacity of Alexander Calder and the woven robustness of Ruth Asawa and Janet Echelman with the optical intelligence of Bridget Riley and the ethereal delicacy of Lygia Pape.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2023
Dreaminess and vivacity, what a wonderful combination of qualities!
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
Pardon me certain vivacities of style, which I had not time to correct, and plunge boldly into the heart of the book.
From The Roman Question by Edmond About
My cousin's vivacities began to languish and the silence seemed to shape itself into a receptacle for my verdict.
From Crucial Instances by Edith Wharton
It is imagined that the gay disposition of the young gentleman was not very suitable to the old man's temper, which was, perhaps, too grave and austere to relish the vivacities of his nephew.
From Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 8 A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History by Charles F. (Charles Francis) Horne
He busied himself instead with a wonderful series of pictures, mostly of no great size, in which he showed an astonishing command over vivacities of technique and modulations of colour.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6 "Foraminifera" to "Fox, Edward" by Various
Those vivacities of young Fritz, his taste for music, finery, those furtive excursions into the domain of Latin and forbidden things, were distasteful and incomprehensible to Friedrich Wilhelm: Where can such things end?
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 04 by Thomas Carlyle
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.
