Lively

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈlaɪvli/

From Middle English lyvely, lifly, from Old English līflīċ ("living, lively, long-lived, necessary to life, vital"), equivalent to life + -ly. Cognate with Scots lively, lifely ("of or pertaining to life, vital, living, life-like").

Alternative forms

• lifely obsolete

Full definition of lively

Adjective

1. Full of life; energetic.
• MiltonBut wherefore comes old Manoa in such haste,
  With youthful steps? Much livelier than erewhile
  He seems.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 7, … St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.
• 2011, September 29, Jon Smith, Tottenham 3-1 Shamrock Rovers, But with the lively Dos Santos pulling the strings behind strikers Pavlyuchenko and Defoe, Spurs controlled the first half without finding the breakthrough their dominance deserved.
2. Bright; vivid; glowing; strong; vigorous.
• Isaac NewtonThe colours of the prism are manifestly more full, intense, and lively that those of natural bodies.
• SouthHis faith must be not only living, but lively too.
3. (archaic) Endowed with or manifesting life; living.
• Hollandchaplets of gold and silver resembling lively flowers and leaves
4. (archaic) Representing life; lifelike.
• MassingerI spied the lively picture of my father.
5. (archaic) Airy; animated; spirited.
• Alexander PopeFrom grave to gay, from lively to severe.
6. (of beer) Fizzy; foamy; tending to produce a large head in the glass.

Usage notes

Nouns to which "lively" is often applied: person, character, lady, woman, man, audience, personality, art, guide, activity, game, lesson, introduction, discussion, debate, writing, image, town, city, village, etc.

Derived terms

• look lively

Noun

1. (nautical) Term of address.
• Herman Melville, TypeeSpeak the word, my livelies, and I'll pilot her in.

From Old English līflīċe.

Adverb

1. (obsolete) In a lifelike manner.
• Spenser Faerie Queene, III.i:Him to a dainty flowre she did transmew,
  Which in that cloth was wrought, as if it liuely grew.
• 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Folio Society 2006, vol. 1, p. 220-1:the Painter Protogenes ... having perfected the image of a wearie and panting dog, ... but being unable, as he desired, lively to represent the drivel or slaver of his mouth, vexed against his owne worke, took his spunge, and moist as it was with divers colours, threw it at the picture ....
2. vibrantly, vividly.

Anagrams

• evilly
• vilely