Wiktionary

enliven

English

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Etymology

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From en- +‎ life +‎ -en (intensifying verbal circumfix).[1]

Pronunciation

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Verb

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enliven (third-person singular simple present enlivens, present participle enlivening, simple past and past participle enlivened)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To give life or spirit to; to revive or animate.
    Synonyms: inspirit, invigorate, quicken, vitalise, vivify
  2. (transitive) To make more lively, cheerful or interesting.
    Synonyms: cheer up, liven, liven up, quicken; see also Thesaurus:enliven
    The game was much enlivened when both teams scored within five minutes of each other.
    • 1950 May, “A Tunisian Electric Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 335:
      Travel is enlivened not only by the mixed company of French, Berbers, Arabs, and descendants of the Mediterranean-Corsairs who sit together indiscriminately, but also by itinerant vendors of macaroons, sweetmeats and the like, who, as long as they have a travel ticket, ply their wares unhindered by the [ticket] collectors.
    • 2023 August 7, Kieran Pender, “Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso fire Australia into quarter-finals with win over Denmark”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      The pace came off the match as the first half continued, with the occasional frenetic moment down the flanks enlivening what otherwise became a chess-like tactical battle.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary (2007) states that enliven was formed by the simultaneous prefixing of en- and suffixing of -en, which, by definition, constitutes circumfixation.
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