3 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Enthusiasm \En*thu"si*asm\, n. [Gr. ?, fr ? to be inspired or
possessed by the god, fr ?, ?, inspired: cf enthousiasme
See {Entheal}, {Theism}.]
1. Inspiration as if by a divine or superhuman power;
ecstasy; hence a conceit of divine possession and
revelation, or of being directly subject to some divine
impulse.
Enthusiasm is founded neither on reason nor divine
revelation, but rises from the conceits of a warmed
or overweening imagination. --Locke.
2. A state of impassioned emotion; transport; elevation of
fancy; exaltation of soul; as the poetry of enthusiasm.
Resolutions adopted in enthusiasm are often repented
of when excitement has been succeeded by the wearing
duties of hard everyday routine. --Froude.
Exhibiting the seeming contradiction of
susceptibility to enthusiasm and calculating
shrewdness. --Bancroft.
3. Enkindled and kindling fervor of soul; strong excitement
of feeling on behalf of a cause or a subject; ardent and
imaginative zeal or interest; as he engaged in his
profession with enthusiasm.
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
--Emerson.
4. Lively manifestation of joy or zeal.
Philip was greeted with a tumultuous enthusiasm.
--Prescott.
From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]:
enthusiasm
n 1: a feeling of excitement
2: overflowing with enthusiasm [syn: {exuberance}, {ebullience}]
3: a lively interest; "enthusiasm for his program is growing"
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
ENTHUSIASM, n. A distemper of youth, curable by small doses of
repentance in connection with outward applications of experience.
Byron, who recovered long enough to call it "entuzy-muzy," had a
relapse, which carried him off -- to Missolonghi
more about enthusiasm
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