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enthusiasm

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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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