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more about enthusiasm
enthusiasm |
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
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