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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Enthusiastic vigor and liveliness.
  2. n. Distinctive style or flair.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Ardor inspired by enthusiasm, passion, or the like; dash.

Wiktionary

  1. n. spirit, zeal, ardor

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. Ardor inspired by passion or enthusiasm.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause)
  2. n. enthusiastic and assured vigor and liveliness
  3. n. distinctive and stylish elegance

Etymologies

  1. French, from Old French eslan, rush, from eslancer, to hurl : es-, out (from Latin ex-; see ex-) + lancer, to throw (from Late Latin lanceāre, to throw a lance, from Latin lancea, lance).

Examples

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Comments

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  • Noelle Knight Eric drove with great zest and elan--and the recklessness of someone extremely hard to kill. -Charlaine Harris, Living Dead in Dallas Dec 10, 2010

  • dimã©lion (n): energy, style, and enthusiasm. Nov 15, 2008

‘élan’ has been looked up 1765 times, loved by 9 people, added to 45 lists, commented on 2 times, and is not a valid Scrabble word.