Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Energy and enthusiasm in the expression of ideas, especially in artistic performance or composition: The revival lacked the verve of the original musical.
- n. Vitality; liveliness. See Synonyms at vigor.
- n. Archaic Aptitude; talent.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Enthusiasm, especially in what pertains to art and literature; spirit; energy.
Wiktionary
- n. Excitement of imagination such as animates a poet, artist, or musician, in composing or performing
- n. artistic energy and enthusiasm
- n. vigour, vitality and liveliness
- n. rapture, enthusiasm
- n. spirit, energy
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Excitement of imagination such as animates a poet, artist, or musician, in composing or performing; rapture; enthusiasm; spirit; energy.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an energetic style
Etymologies
- French, from Old French, fanciful expression, probably from Vulgar Latin *verva, from Latin verba, pl. of verbum, word; see wer-5 in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Mistral tuned his lyre for a poetry that in verve and vigour does not yield to any of his previous works.”
“Its style is high in Latin verve: the language of ballet infused with rhumba, tango and salsa, as well as the athleticism of the Brazilian martial art form capoeira.”
“To have that kind of verve and oomph must be amazing.”
“According to a recent article in the NYT, NPR is dissatisfied with their record 28 million listeners, and has been doing research to determine how to give their programming more 'verve'.”
Bruce Gilardi: Take Them Away, Please (Or, How to Numb Your Mind in the Morning)
“Frustrating, because you wonder just where this kind of verve has been during the last 30 to 40 days.”
“I see this same kind of verve in the 62 papers that have initially joined with HuffPost to produce”
“Meanwhile, Oonagh lost her "verve" for nursing and did a diploma in holistic health.”
“That kind of verve is absent in "The House of Steinbrenner.”
“With a kind of verve no doubt fed by digital culture, sci-fi, "post-abstract" painting and the punk, new-wave and hip-hop music that fuel his age rather than the ashcan / surrealism / tragedy / jazz diet his AbEx predecessors noshed on, Tomory Dodge, in his latest work, makes barely imagistic images comprising mostly color, shape, gesture and plays of surface.”
“It'd be nice if we got more of them done with the kind of verve we've seen in this new”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘verve’.
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Band or Brand?
Band names that are also common words or phrases.
genesis, who, beatles, journey, germs, sublime, doors, cars, nirvana, bangles, tool, pixies and 192 more...
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WOOZ
Words contained in the screenplay of Wizard of Oz, 1939 film.
Comments show the actual "line" from the film.
The words are tagged for grade-levelpusillanimous, genuflect, cataclysmic, vernacular, peasantry, aver, caliginous, tedious, advent, careworn, bovine, commodity and 34 more...
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Energetic
braze, raze, brisance, brisant, rive, catalyze, whipsaw, crack, actinic, sublimate, animate, vitalize and 88 more...
dbekeny LION
(sings)
Yeh, it's sad, believe me, Missy
When you're born to be a sissy,
Without the vim and verve.
But I could show my prowess --
Be a lion not a mou-ess --
If I only had the nerve
I'm afraid there's no denyin'
I'm just a dande-lion --
A fate I don't deserve.
I'd be brave as a blizzard --
Jun 11, 2010