English Explanatory Dictionary

lively

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Full of life; energetic, vivacious.
  2. Bright, glowing, vivid; strong, vigorous.
  3. Endowed with or manifesting life; living.
  4. Representing life; lifelike.
  5. Airy; animated; spirited.
  6. Fizzy; foamy; tending to produce a large head in the glass.
noun
  1. Term of address.
adv
  1. Vigorously.
  2. Vibrantly, vividly.
  3. In a lifelike manner.
name
  1. A characteristical surname.
  2. An urban area of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
  3. An unincorporated community in Benton County, Missouri.
  4. An unincorporated community in Kaufman County, Texas.
  5. An unincorporated community in Lancaster County, Virginia.
  6. An unincorporated community in Fayette County, West Virginia.

Pronunciation

/ˈlaɪv.li/ en-us-lively.ogg /ˈlaɪvli/

Word forms

lively livelier liveliest lifely livelies more lively most lively

Etymology

From Middle English lyvely, lifly, from Old English līflīċ (“living, lively, long-lived, necessary to life, vital”), from Proto-West Germanic *lībalīk (“living, lively”), equivalent to life + -ly. Cognate with Scots lively, lifely (“of or pertaining to life, vital, living, life-like”), Old High German līblīh (“living, animated”), German leiblich (“bodily, corporeal”). Doublet of lifely and lifelike.

Synonyms

frisky peppy zestful live vital high-spirited intense smart extant lifey limned naturalistic frothy spumescent sprightly

Derived words

livelily liveliness lively as a grig livened look lively overlively unlively step lively Lively Island
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