enliven

Etymology

It is formed from English en- + life + -en,^[2][3][4] and was formerly also spelled inliven.^[5][6] The Oxford dictionaries take it as an extension of the verb enlive,^[5][7][6] recorded from 1593 and made from en- and life with the consonant of the plural “lives” or of the verb live.^[2][5][7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged prefers the adjective live as the base,^[8] and Etymonline explains the form as live standing for life.^[9] The noun life is from Old English līf.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To give life to, to bring or restore to life: 1631, in the Earl of Manchester's Contemplatio Mortis.^[2][9] Dictionary.com dates the word 1625–35,^[4] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1604 for this sense.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense, in which the soul animates the body, was given up in the 18th century.^[2][5] From the 1640s the verb meant to give fuller life to, to invigorate, in body or spirit, and could also be used of feelings or trade.^[2] The sense now most common, to make lively or cheerful, or to relieve dullness, followed about 1700.^[2][9] Johnson (1755) set out this progression in four steps: to make alive, to make vigorous, to make sprightly, and to make gay in appearance.^[10] Etymonline notes a noun enlivement from 1877.^[9]

Timeline

• 1631 – to give life to, restore to life (obsolete by 1732).^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates this sense to 1604.^[8]
• 1644 – to give fuller life to, invigorate, stimulate.^[2]
• 1701 – to make lively or cheerful; to relieve monotony.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1690s.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make more lively, cheerful or interesting: A few jokes enlivened the long meeting.^[11][8][2]
2. To give energy to; to invigorate or stimulate.^[11][8][2]
3. (obsolete, 1631–1732) To give life to; to bring back to life.^[2][5][10]

Word family

• enlivener
• enlivenment
• enliveningly
• unenlivened
• unenlivening

Related words

• enlive
• life
• live
• lively

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins