Synonym Chooser

How is the word vivify distinct from other similar verbs?

Some common synonyms of vivify are animate, enliven, and quicken. While all these words mean "to make alive or lively," vivify implies a freshening or energizing through renewal of vitality.

new blood needed to vivify the dying club

When can animate be used instead of vivify?

While the synonyms animate and vivify are close in meaning, animate emphasizes the imparting of motion or vitality to what is or might be mechanical or artificial.

happiness animated his conversation

In what contexts can enliven take the place of vivify?

The synonyms enliven and vivify are sometimes interchangeable, but enliven suggests a stimulus that arouses from dullness or torpidity.

enlivened her lectures with humorous anecdotes

When would quicken be a good substitute for vivify?

Although the words quicken and vivify have much in common, quicken stresses a sudden renewal of life or activity especially in something inert.

the arrival of spring quickens the earth

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of vivify But the book also vivifies the fact that most (if not all) art and journalism has a predatory element. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2023 All of which speaks to a level of seriousness in the notables featured in Young Bloomsbury that the book perhaps did not vivify. John Tamny, Forbes, 28 Dec. 2022 Each of these observers was given a tic, motif, or symbolic compulsion to distinguish and vivify his or her narration. Mark Greif, The Atlantic, 15 Mar. 2022 So many ideas, so little capital in a relative sense to vivify those ideas. John Tamny, Forbes, 9 May 2021 Their bodies are emphatically their own, no rightful concern of his, and their joy is vivifying. New York Times, 16 Feb. 2020 This novel is a beautiful unfolding of characters and relationships that vivify nontraditional family, friendship, love, identity, boundaries, distance, responsibility and forgiveness. Beth Py-Lieberman, Smithsonian, 28 Nov. 2019 Every year around this time, a delectable wave of Brazilian music sweeps across the Bay Area, bringing a lush, vivifying surge of beauty to the fading days of summer. Andrew Gilbert, The Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2019 To the first point, the Sanders-Red Hen situation has unearthed (or perhaps vivified) a growing sentiment in our society. Aaron Blake, Washington Post, 25 June 2018

Thesaurus Entries Near vivify

Cite this Entry

“Vivify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vivify. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.

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