Crossword clues for enthusiasm
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Enthusiasm \En*thu"si*asm\, n. [Gr. ?, fr. ? to be inspired or possessed by the god, fr. ?, ?, inspired: cf. enthousiasme. See Entheal, Theism.]
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Inspiration as if by a divine or superhuman power; ecstasy; hence, a conceit of divine possession and revelation, or of being directly subject to some divine impulse.
Enthusiasm is founded neither on reason nor divine revelation, but rises from the conceits of a warmed or overweening imagination.
--Locke. -
A state of impassioned emotion; transport; elevation of fancy; exaltation of soul; as, the poetry of enthusiasm.
Resolutions adopted in enthusiasm are often repented of when excitement has been succeeded by the wearing duties of hard everyday routine.
--Froude.Exhibiting the seeming contradiction of susceptibility to enthusiasm and calculating shrewdness.
--Bancroft. -
Enkindled and kindling fervor of soul; strong excitement of feeling on behalf of a cause or a subject; ardent and imaginative zeal or interest; as, he engaged in his profession with enthusiasm.
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
--Emerson. -
Lively manifestation of joy or zeal.
Philip was greeted with a tumultuous enthusiasm.
--Prescott.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1600, from Middle French enthousiasme (16c.) and directly from Late Latin enthusiasmus, from Greek enthousiasmos "divine inspiration, enthusiasm (produced by certain kinds of music, etc.)," from enthousiazein "be inspired or possessed by a god, be rapt, be in ecstasy," from entheos "divinely inspired, possessed by a god," from en "in" (see en- (2)) + theos "god" (see theo-). Acquired a derogatory sense of "excessive religious emotion through the conceit of special revelation from God" (1650s) under the Puritans; generalized meaning "fervor, zeal" (the main modern sense) is first recorded 1716.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context obsolete or historical English) possession by a god; divine inspiration or frenzy. 2 Intensity of feeling; excited interest or eagerness. 3 Something in which one is keenly interested.
WordNet
n. a feeling of excitement
overflowing with enthusiasm [syn: exuberance, ebullience]
a lively interest; "enthusiasm for his program is growing"
Wikipedia
Enthusiasm is intense enjoyment, interest, or approval.
Usage examples of "enthusiasm".
Congress stood and clapped as she walked down the aisleway to the rostrum, though the Republicans, most of them, did so out of mere politeness, devoid of enthusiasm.
Without much enthusiasm, Krispos walked down the hard dirt aisleway toward the throne.
The appointment has largely been greeted with enthusiasm by the Wizarding community, though rumors of a rift between the new Minister and Albus Dumbledore, newly reinstated Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, surfaced within hours of Scrimgeour taking office.
I am very grateful to Rene Alegria, my editor at Rayo, so aptly named, for his unbridled enthusiasm and joie de vivre, which made writing this novel so much fun.
The servant in his enthusiasm and the importance of his mission told the Amalekite that he came from a prince of Egypt.
Whereas the Lutherans had stood for passive obedience and the Anabaptists for revolutionary communism, the Calvinists appealed to the independent middle classes and gave them not only the enthusiasm to endure martyrdom but also--what the others had lacked--the will and the power to resist tyranny by force.
From an anchorman that kind of thing was expected-a matter of noblesse obligeeven though, where Partridge was concerned, Sloane did it without any great enthusiasm.
Indeed, it is only after considerable time that we realise that this man speaking with the enthusiasm of a black magician is discussing the ability of Andrias to perceive colours and his ability to distinguish various shades.
The other Aristos followed his lead and drank, their decided lack of enthusiasm evident only in their minds, but intense enough from so many of them that it came through his fortified shields.
TANU strained to mobilize Tanzanians behind the Arusha principles, this homespun socialist vision evoked a spontaneous outpouring of enthusiasm from the outside.
It explored his fingers, snuffling and blowing its great breaths on him in evident enthusiasm, flicking its ears as it had with the dowager, seeming not offended that he had no treat for it.
Ronald said, as he looked at the prince as he was pacing up and down the deck with the Duke of Athole, talking rapidly, his face flushed with enthusiasm, his clustering hair blown backward by the wind.
As Audubon always did, he gathered enthusiasm when he thought about the goal and not the means by which he had to accomplish it.
He haunted the kitchen with the persistency of a blackbeetle, and became such a nuisance at last that Miss Hartley espoused his cause almost with enthusiasm.
Perhaps that was why Boolean stood so firmly against them in spite of his own alleged lack of enthusiasm for the system.