SPIRIT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does spirit mean? 

• SPIRIT (noun)
  The noun SPIRIT has 8 senses:

1. the vital principle or animating force within living things

2. the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people

3. a fundamental emotional and activating principle determining one's character

4. any incorporeal supernatural being that can become visible (or audible) to human beings

5. the state of a person's emotions (especially with regard to pleasure or dejection)

6. the intended meaning of a communication

7. animation and energy in action or expression

8. an inclination or tendency of a certain kind

  Familiarity information: SPIRIT used as a noun is common.

• SPIRIT (verb)
  The verb SPIRIT has 1 sense:

1. infuse with spirit

  Familiarity information: SPIRIT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPIRIT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The vital principle or animating force within living things

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):

life principle; vital principle (a hypothetical force to which the functions and qualities peculiar to living things are sometimes ascribed)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirit"):

psyche; soul (the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life)

Derivation:

spiritize (imbue with a spirit)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

feel; feeling; flavor; flavour; look; smell; spirit; tone

Context example:

it had the smell of treason

Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):

ambiance; ambience; atmosphere (a particular environment or surrounding influence)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirit"):

Hollywood (a flashy vulgar tone or atmosphere believed to be characteristic of the American film industry)

Zeitgeist (the spirit of the time; the spirit characteristic of an age or generation)

Derivation:

spirit (infuse with spirit)

spiritize (imbue with a spirit)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A fundamental emotional and activating principle determining one's character

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):

character; fiber; fibre (the inherent complex of attributes that determines a persons moral and ethical actions and reactions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirit"):

cowardice; cowardliness (the trait of lacking courage)

braveness; bravery; courage; courageousness (a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear)

Derivation:

spiritize (imbue with a spirit)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Any incorporeal supernatural being that can become visible (or audible) to human beings

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

disembodied spirit; spirit

Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):

spiritual being; supernatural being (an incorporeal being believed to have powers to affect the course of human events)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirit"):

peri ((Persian folklore) a supernatural being descended from fallen angels and excluded from paradise until penance is done)

zombi; zombi spirit; zombie; zombie spirit ((voodooism) a spirit or supernatural force that reanimates a dead body)

thunderbird ((mythology) the spirit of thunder and lightning believed by some Native Americans to take the shape of a great bird)

silvan; sylvan (a spirit that lives in or frequents the woods)

python (a soothsaying spirit or a person who is possessed by such a spirit)

numen (a spirit believed to inhabit an object or preside over a place (especially in ancient Roman religion))

kachina (a deified spirit of the Pueblo people)

presence (an invisible spiritual being felt to be nearby)

apparition; fantasm; phantasm; phantasma; phantom; specter; spectre (a ghostly appearing figure)

familiar; familiar spirit (a spirit (usually in animal form) that acts as an assistant to a witch or wizard)

djinn; djinni; djinny; genie; jinnee; jinni ((Islam) an invisible spirit mentioned in the Koran and believed by Muslims to inhabit the earth and influence mankind by appearing in the form of humans or animals)

banshee; banshie ((Irish folklore) a female spirit who wails to warn of impending death)

evil spirit (a spirit tending to cause harm)

control (a spiritual agency that is assumed to assist the medium during a seance)

Derivation:

spiritual (resembling or characteristic of a phantom)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The state of a person's emotions (especially with regard to pleasure or dejection)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

emotional state; spirit

Context example:

his spirit rose

Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):

emotion (any strong feeling)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirit"):

embarrassment (the state of being embarrassed (usually by some financial inadequacy))

ecstasy; exaltation; rapture; raptus; transport (a state of being carried away by overwhelming emotion)

gratification; satisfaction (state of being gratified or satisfied)

felicity; happiness (state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy)

state (a state of depression or agitation)

unhappiness (state characterized by emotions ranging from mild discontentment to deep grief)

Derivation:

spirit (infuse with spirit)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The intended meaning of a communication

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

intent; purport; spirit

Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):

import; meaning; significance; signification (the message that is intended or expressed or signified)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Animation and energy in action or expression

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

life; liveliness; spirit; sprightliness

Context example:

it was a heavy play and the actors tried in vain to give life to it

Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):

animation; brio; invigoration; spiritedness; vivification (quality of being active or spirited or alive and vigorous)

Attribute:

lively (full of life and energy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirit"):

high-spiritedness (exuberant liveliness)

ginger; pep; peppiness (liveliness and energy)

ebullience; enthusiasm; exuberance (overflowing with eager enjoyment or approval)

buoyancy; irrepressibility (irrepressible liveliness and good spirit)

breeziness; jauntiness (a breezy liveliness)

esprit (liveliness of mind or spirit)

elan (enthusiastic and assured vigor and liveliness)

energy; muscularity; vigor; vigour; vim (an imaginative lively style (especially style of writing))

alacrity; briskness; smartness (liveliness and eagerness)

airiness; delicacy (lightness in movement or manner)

pertness (quality of being lively and confident)

Derivation:

spirit (infuse with spirit)

spiritize (imbue with a spirit)

Sense 8

Meaning:

An inclination or tendency of a certain kind

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

heart; spirit

Context example:

he had a change of heart

Hypernyms ("spirit" is a kind of...):

disposition; temperament (your usual mood)

• SPIRIT (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Infuse with spirit

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

inspirit; spirit; spirit up

Context example:

The company spirited him up

Hypernyms (to "spirit" is one way to...):

animate; enliven; invigorate; liven; liven up (make lively)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

spirit (animation and energy in action or expression)

spirit (the state of a person's emotions (especially with regard to pleasure or dejection))

spirit (the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people)

 Context examples 

Me! a poor, helpless, forlorn widow, unfit for anything, my spirits quite broke down; what could I do with a girl at her time of life?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

You have no guarantee that he will not be spirited away again.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a most delightful reanimation of exhausted spirits.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

"Mayhap they be not evil, but good, these spirits," others said.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

They were lips of pure spirit, and his desire for them seemed absolutely different from the desire that had led him to other women's lips.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

CAM therapies treat the mind, body, and spirit.

(Integrative medicine, NCI Dictionary)

In the morning the king came, and when he saw him lying there on the ground, he thought the evil spirits had killed him and he was dead.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

"I think I have," replied Elinor, with an exertion of spirits, which increased with her increase of emotion.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Having substance or material existence; concerned with material things; of or pertaining to the body as distinguished from the mind or spirit.

(Physical, NCI Thesaurus)

Continue for the present to write to me by every opportunity: I may receive your letters on some occasions when I need them most to support my spirits.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)