English Explanatory Dictionary

animal spirits

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The theorized ‘spirits’ or physiological principles which allowed for sensation and voluntary movement.
  2. Liveliness, vivacity, a happy tendency to action.
  3. After Keynes (citation 1936, above), the emotional and intuitive factors that drive business decisions whether to make investment gambles.

Word forms

animal spirits

Etymology

From Middle English spirite animal; equivalent to animal (adjective) + spirits.

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