carpe diem

noun

car·​pe di·​em ˈkär-pe-ˈdē-ˌem 

-ˈdī-,

-əm 

: the enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future

The multimillionaire said that he owed his success in life to his belief in carpe diem.

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The Origin of Carpe Diem

This Latin phrase, which literally means "pluck the day," was used by the Roman poet Horace to express the idea that we should enjoy life while we can. His full injunction, "carpe diem quam minimum credula postero,” can be translated as “pluck the day, trusting as little as possible in the next one,” but carpe diem alone has come to be used as shorthand for this entire idea, which is more widely known as "seize the day."

The 1989 movie Dead Poets Society introduced late-20th-century audiences to the phrase, but the sentiment has been expressed in many literatures, perhaps most famously in 16th- and 17th-century English poetry. One of the best-known examples (and an example featured prominently in Dead Poets Society) is in the first stanza of Robert Herrick's 1648 "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time":

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying.

While the sentiment has long been expressed in English, the phrase carpe diem didn't begin appearing in print in English until the early 19th century. Two centuries later, the phrase is found on mugs and T-shirts and in the names of various enterprises and organizations.

Examples of carpe diem in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But what truly makes this a movie worth searching out is the way writer-director Bernardo Britto’s sideways take on carpe diem sets the stage for its lead to rage, and somehow never lets the high-concept premise eclipse the performance at the center of it. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 20 Sep. 2024

Its approach has been indulgent, seasonal, carpe diem. —Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Apr. 2024

Booking flights, activities, and restaurants all can be improved with a sprinkling of carpe diem. —Olivia Morelli, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 Jan. 2024

India’s ‘carpe diem moment’ India has, since the start of Putin’s devastating war against Ukraine, repeatedly abstained from votes condemning the Kremlin. —Rhea Mogul, CNN, 8 Sep. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Latin, literally, pluck the day

First Known Use

1817, in the meaning defined above