Definitions for Spirit
ˈspɪr ɪtspir·it

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:3.6 / 11 votes

1. spiritnoun

   the vital principle or animating force within living things

2. spirit, tone, feel, feeling, flavor, flavour, look, smellnoun

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

   "the feel of the city excited him"; "a clergyman improved the tone of the meeting"; "it had the smell of treason"

3. spiritnoun

   a fundamental emotional and activating principle determining one's character

4. spirit, disembodied spiritnoun

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

5. emotional state, spiritnoun

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

   "his emotional state depended on her opinion"; "he was in good spirits"; "his spirit rose"

6. intent, purport, spiritnoun

   the intended meaning of a communication

7. liveliness, life, spirit, sprightlinessnoun

   animation and energy in action or expression

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

8. heart, spiritverb

   an inclination or tendency of a certain kind

   "he had a change of heart"

9. spirit, spirit up, inspiritverb

   infuse with spirit

   "The company spirited him up"

WiktionaryRate this definition:1.5 / 2 votes

1. spiritnoun

   The undying essence of a human. The soul.

2. spiritnoun

   A supernatural being, often but not exclusively without physical form; ghost, fairy, angel.

3. spiritnoun

   enthusiasm

   School spirit is at an all-time high.

4. spiritnoun

   The manner or style of something.

   In the spirit of forgiveness, we didn't press charges.

5. spiritnoun

   A volatile liquid, such as alcohol. The plural form spirits is a generic term for distilled alcoholic beverages.

6. spiritnoun

   Energy.

7. spiritverb

   To carry off, especially in haste, secrecy, or mystery.

8. Spiritnoun

   (Holy) Spirit: in Christian theology, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the three aspects of God

9. Spiritnoun

   the Devil.

10. Spiritnoun

    The name given to a Mars exploration rover launched June 10, 2003. See wikipedia entry

11. Etymology: from spiritus. Compare inspire, respire, transpire, all ultimately from Latin spiro. Displaced native Middle English gast (from Old English gast).

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. SPIRITnoun

   Etymology: spiritus, Latin.

   1. Breath; wind in motion.

   All purges have in them a raw spirit or wind, which is the principal cause of tension in the stomach. Francis Bacon.

   The balmy spirit of the western breeze.

   2. [ Esprit, Fr.] An immaterial substance.

   Spirit is a substance wherein thinking, knowing, doubting, and a power of moving do subsist. John Locke.

   I shall depend upon your constant friendship; like the trust we have in benevolent spirits, who, though we never see or hear them, we think are constantly praying for us. Alexander Pope.

   She is a spirit; yet not like air, or wind;
   Nor like the spirits about the heart, or brain;
   Nor like those spirits which alchymists do find,
   When they in ev’ry thing seek gold in vain;
   For she all natures under heav’n doth pass,
   Being like those spirits which God’s bright face do see,
   Or like himself whose image once she was,
   Though now, alas! she scarce his shadow be;
   For of all forms she holds the first degree,
   That are to gross material bodies knit;
   Yet she herself is bodyless and free;
   And though confin’d is almost infinite. Davies.

   If we seclude space, there will remain in the world but matter and mind, or body and spirit. Isaac Watts, Logick.

   3. The soul of man.

   The spirit shall return unto God that gave it. Bible.

   Look, who comes here! a grave unto a soul,
   Holding th’ eternal spirit ’gainst her will
   In the vile prison of afflicted breath. William Shakespeare, K. John.

   4. An apparition.

   They were terrified, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. Luke xxiv. 37.

   Perhaps you might see the image, and not the glass; the former appearing like a spirit in the air. Francis Bacon.

   Whilst young, preserve his tender mind from all impressions of spirits and goblins in the dark. John Locke.

   5. Temper; habitual disposition of mind.

   He sits
   Upon their tongues a various spirit, to rase
   Quite out their native language. John Milton.

   That peculiar law of christianity which forbids revenge, no man can think it grievous who considers the restless torment of a malicious and revengeful spirit. John Tillotson.

   Nor once disturb their heav’nly spirits
   With Scapin’s cheats, or Cæsar’s merits. Matthew Prior.

   6. Ardour; courage; elevation; vehemence of mind.

   ’Tis well blown, lads;
   This morning, like the spirit of a youth
   That means to be of note, begins betimes. William Shakespeare.

   Farewel the big war,
   The spirit stirring drum, th’ ear piercing fife. William Shakespeare.

   7. Genius; vigour of mind.

   More ample spirit than hitherto was wont,
   Here needs me, whiles the famous ancestors
   Of my most dreaded sovereign I recount,
   By which all earthly princes she doth far surmount. Fa. Q.

   To a mighty work thou goest, O king,
   That equal spirits and equal pow’rs shall bring. Daniel.

   A wild Tartar, when he spies
   A man that’s handsome, valiant, wise,
   If he can kill him, thinks t’ inherit
   His wit, his beauty, and his spirit. Samuel Butler.

   The noblest spirit or genius cannot deserve enough of mankind, to pretend to the esteem of heroick virtue. William Temple.

   A perfect judge will read each work of wit,
   With the same spirit that its author writ:
   Survey the whole, nor seek slight fault to find,
   Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind. Alexander Pope.

   8. Turn of mind; power of mind moral or intellectual.

   You were us’d
   To say extremity was the trier of spirits,
   That common chances common men could be ar. William Shakespeare.

   I ask but half thy mighty spirit for me. Abraham Cowley.

   9. Intellectual powers distinct from the body.

   These discourses made so deep impression upon the mind and spirit of the prince, whose nature was inclined to adventures, that he was transported with the thought of it. Edward Hyde.

   In spirit perhaps he also saw
   Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume. John Milton.

   10. Sentiment; perception.

   You are too great to be by me gainsaid:
   Your spirit is too true, your fears too certain. William Shakespeare.

   11. Eagerness; desire.

   God has changed mens tempers with the times, and made a spirit of building succeed a spirit of pulling down. South.

   12. Man of activity; man of life, fire and enterprise.

   The watry kingdom is no bar
   To stop the foreign spirits, but they come. William Shakespeare.

   13. Persons distinguished by qualities of the mind. A French word, happily growing obsolete.

   Such spirits as he desired to please, such would I chuse for my judges. Dryden.

   14. That which gives vigour or cheerfulness to the mind; the purest part of the body bordering, says Sydenham, on immaterialty. In this meaning it is commonly written with the plural termination.

   Though thou didst but jest:
   With my vex’d spirits I cannot take a truce,
   But they will quake. William Shakespeare, King John.

   When I sit and tell
   The warlike feats I’ve done, his spirits fly out
   Into my story. William Shakespeare, Cymbeline.

   Alas! when all our lamps are burn’d,
   Our bodies wasted, and our spirits spent,
   When we have all the learned volumes turn’d,
   Which yield men’s wits both help and ornament;
   What can we know, or what can we discern? Davies.

   To sing thy praise, wou’d heav’n my breath prolong,
   Infusing spirits worthy such a song,
   Not Thracian Orpheus should transcend my lays. Dryden.

   By means of the curious lodgment and inosculation of the auditory nerves, the orgasms of the spirits should be allayed. William Derham.

   In some fair body thus the secret soul
   With spirits feeds, with vigour fills the whole;
   Each motion guides, and ev’ry nerve sustains,
   Itself unseen, but in the effects remains. Alexander Pope.

   The king’s party, called the cavaliers, began to recover their spirits. Jonathan Swift.

   15. The likeness; essential qualities.

   Italian pieces will appear best in a room where the windows are high, because they are commonly made to a descending light, which of all other doth set off mens faces in their truest spirit. Henry Wotton.

   16. Any thing eminently pure and refined.

   Nor doth the eye itself,
   That most pure spirit of sense, behold itself. William Shakespeare.

   17. That which hath power or energy.

   All bodies have spirits and pneumatical parts within them; but the main difference between animate and inanimate are, that the spirits of things animate are all continued within themselves, and branched in veins as blood is; and the spirits have also certain seats where the principal do reside, and whereunto the rest do resort; but the spirits in things inanimate are shut in and cut off by the tangible parts, as air in snow. Francis Bacon, Natural History.

   18. An inflammable liquour raised by distillation.

   What the chymists call spirit, they apply the name to so many differing things, that they seem to have no settled notion of the thing. In general, they give the name of spirit to any distilled volatile liquour. Boyle.

   All spirits, by frequent use, destroy, and at last extinguish the natural heat of the stomach. William Temple.

   In distillations, what trickles down the sides of the receiver, if it will not mix with water, is oil; if it will, it is spirit. John Arbuthnot, on Aliments.

   19. It may be observed, that in the old poets spirit was commonly a monosyllable, being written spright or sprite.

   The charge thereof unto a courteous spright
   Commanded was. Edmund Spenser.

2. To Spiritverb

   1. To animate or actuate as a spirit.

   So talk’d the spirited sly snake. John Milton, Par. Lost.

   2. To excite; to animate; to encourage.

   He will be faint in any execution of such a counsel, unless spirited by the unanimous decrees of a general diet. William Temple.

   Civil dissensions never fail of introducing and spiriting the ambition of private men. Jonathan Swift, on the Cont. in Athens and Rome.

   Many officers and private men spirit up and assist those obstinate people to continue in their rebellion. Jonathan Swift.

   3. To draw; to entice.

   In the southern coast of America, the southern point of the needle varieth toward the land, as being disposed and spirited that way, by the meridional and proper hemisphere. Brown.

   The ministry had him spirited away, and carried abroad as a dangerous person. Scriblerus Club .

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Spiritnoun

   air set in motion by breathing; breath; hence, sometimes, life itself

2. Spiritnoun

   a rough breathing; an aspirate, as the letter h; also, a mark to denote aspiration; a breathing

3. Spiritnoun

   life, or living substance, considered independently of corporeal existence; an intelligence conceived of apart from any physical organization or embodiment; vital essence, force, or energy, as distinct from matter

4. Spiritnoun

   the intelligent, immaterial and immortal part of man; the soul, in distinction from the body in which it resides; the agent or subject of vital and spiritual functions, whether spiritual or material

5. Spiritnoun

   specifically, a disembodied soul; the human soul after it has left the body

6. Spiritnoun

   any supernatural being, good or bad; an apparition; a specter; a ghost; also, sometimes, a sprite,; a fairy; an elf

7. Spiritnoun

   energy, vivacity, ardor, enthusiasm, courage, etc

8. Spiritnoun

   one who is vivacious or lively; one who evinces great activity or peculiar characteristics of mind or temper; as, a ruling spirit; a schismatic spirit

9. Spiritnoun

   temper or disposition of mind; mental condition or disposition; intellectual or moral state; -- often in the plural; as, to be cheerful, or in good spirits; to be downhearted, or in bad spirits

10. Spiritnoun

    intent; real meaning; -- opposed to the letter, or to formal statement; also, characteristic quality, especially such as is derived from the individual genius or the personal character; as, the spirit of an enterprise, of a document, or the like

11. Spiritnoun

    tenuous, volatile, airy, or vapory substance, possessed of active qualities

12. Spiritnoun

    any liquid produced by distillation; especially, alcohol, the spirits, or spirit, of wine (it having been first distilled from wine): -- often in the plural

13. Spiritnoun

    rum, whisky, brandy, gin, and other distilled liquors having much alcohol, in distinction from wine and malt liquors

14. Spiritnoun

    a solution in alcohol of a volatile principle. Cf. Tincture

15. Spiritnoun

    any one of the four substances, sulphur, sal ammoniac, quicksilver, or arsenic (or, according to some, orpiment)

16. Spiritnoun

    stannic chloride. See under Stannic

17. Spiritverb

    to animate with vigor; to excite; to encourage; to inspirit; as, civil dissensions often spirit the ambition of private men; -- sometimes followed by up

18. Spiritverb

    to convey rapidly and secretly, or mysteriously, as if by the agency of a spirit; to kidnap; -- often with away, or off

FreebaseRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Spirit

   The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body. The word spirit is often used metaphysically to refer to the consciousness or personality. The notions of a person's spirit and soul often also overlap, as both contrast with body and both are understood as surviving the bodily death in religion and occultism, and "spirit" can also have the sense of "ghost", i.e. a manifestation of the spirit of a deceased person. The term may also refer to any incorporeal or immaterial being, such as demons or deities, in Christianity specifically the Holy Spirit experienced by the disciples at Pentecost.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Spirit

   spir′it, n. vital force: the soul: a ghost: mental disposition: enthusiasm, animation, courage, mettle: real meaning: essence, chief quality: a very lively person: any volatile, inflammable liquid obtained by distillation, as brandy: (pl.) intellectual activity: liveliness: persons with particular qualities of mind: mental excitement: spirituous liquors.—v.t. to inspirit, encourage, cheer: to convey away secretly, to kidnap.—ns. Spir′it-blue, an aniline blue obtained from coal-tar; Spir′it-duck, the buffle-head, from its rapid diving.—adj. Spir′ited, full of spirit, life, or fire: animated.—adv. Spir′itedly.—n. Spir′itedness.—adj. Spir′itful.—n. Spir′iting, the office of a spirit or sprite; Spir′itism=Spiritualism; Spir′itist=Spiritualist; Spir′it-lamp, a lamp in which alcohol is burned, generally used for heating.—adj. Spir′itless, without spirit, cheerfulness, or courage: dejected: dead.—adv. Spir′itlessly.—ns. Spir′itlessness, the state of being spiritless: want of animation or energy; Spir′it-lev′el, in surveying, a cylindrical glass tube, slightly convex on one side, and so nearly filled with alcohol that only a small bubble of air remains inside—from the position of the bubble the amount of variation from perfect levelness is determined.—adj. Spir′itous, of the nature of spirit, pure: ardent, spirituous.—ns. Spir′itousness; Spir′it-rap′per, one to whom spirits convey intelligence by raps or knocks; Spir′it-rap′ping.—adjs. Spir′it-stir′ring, rousing the spirit; Spir′itūal, consisting of spirit: having the nature of a spirit: immaterial: relating to the mind: intellectual: pertaining to the soul: holy: divine: relating to sacred things: not lay or temporal.—n. Spiritualisā′tion.—v.t. Spir′itūalise, to make spiritual: to imbue with spirituality: to refine: to free from sensuality: to give a spiritual meaning to.—ns. Spir′itualiser; Spir′itualism, a being spiritual: the philosophical doctrine that nothing is real but soul or spirit: the doctrine that spirit has a real existence apart from matter: the name applied to a varied series of abnormal phenomena purporting to be for the most part caused by spiritual beings acting upon specially sensitive persons or mediums; Spir′itūalist, one who has a regard only to spiritual things: one who holds the doctrine of spiritualism or spiritism.—adj. Spiritūalist′ic, relating to, or connected with, spiritualism.—n. Spiritūal′ity, state of being spiritual: essence distinct from matter.—adv. Spir′itūally.—ns. Spir′itūal-mind′edness, the state of having holy affections; Spir′itūalness, the state or quality of being spiritual.—adj. Spi′ritūelle, showing great grace and delicacy.—n. Spiritūos′ity, spirituous character: immateriality.—advs. Spirit-uō′so, Spiritō′so (mus.), with spirit or animation.—adj. Spir′itūous, possessing the qualities of spirit: containing much alcohol: volatile.—ns. Spir′itūousness, the quality of being spirituous: stimulating quality: ardour: activity; Spir′itus, a breathing, an aspirate: any spirituous preparation; Spir′itworld, the world of disembodied spirits.—adj. Spir′ity (Scot.), full of spirit, spirited.—Spirit of wine, alcohol; Spiritual court, an ecclesiastical court; Spiritus asper, a rough breathing; Spiritus lenis, a soft or smooth breathing.—Animal spirits, constitutional liveliness of spirits; Holy Spirit (see under Holy); The Spirit, the Holy Spirit: the human spirit under the influence of the Holy Spirit. [L. spiritus, a breath—spirāre, to breathe.]

The Nuttall EncyclopediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Spirit

   in philosophy and theology is the Divine mind incarnating itself in the life of a man, and breathing in all he thinks and does, and so is as the life-principle of it; employed also to denote any active dominating and pervading principle of life inspired from any quarter whatever and coming to light in the conduct.

Editors ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. spirit

   The accurate and specific qualities and energy within living organisms, animals, human beings, universal beings, our body, brain, heart, soul, mind, memory, subconscious, conscience and consciousness.

   Their spirit is lively, fun and playful as they choose it to be.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on December 21, 2019  

2. ---

   spirit

   The intended meaning of a communication or message.

   The spirit of the message was one of peace, fun, laughter, joy, abundance, love and unity.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on December 21, 2019  

3. ---

   spirit

   Energy in expression or action

   The spirit of the day is described so beautifully - unity, love, sharing and supporting.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on December 21, 2019  

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. spirit

   Song lyrics by spirit -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by spirit on the Lyrics.com website.

Matched Categories

1. • Character
   • Meaning
   • Vital Principle

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Spirit' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1631

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Spirit' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1554

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Spirit' in Nouns Frequency: #572

How to pronounce Spirit?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say Spirit in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of Spirit in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of Spirit in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of Spirit in a Sentence

1. Shah Asad Rizvi:

   In stature arise those whose spirit moves to the melody, even the flow of time pauses for a glimpse when combine dance and life’s mysteries

2. Edith Hamilton:

   Mind and spirit together make up that which separates us from the rest of the animal world, that which enables a man to know the truth and that which enables him to die for the truth.

3. Chipper Jones:

   His swing, his smile, his spirit, they were all beautiful.

4. Amanda Kloots:

   He would have loved it. It was beautiful and perfect. His spirit was definitely there.

5. Ralph Waldo Emerson:

   Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could some blunders and absurdities have crept in forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

Popularity rank by frequency of use