Definitions for flourish
ˈflɜr ɪʃ, ˈflʌr-flour·ish

Princeton's WordNet(2.75 / 8 votes)Rate this definition:

1. flourish(noun)

   a showy gesture

   "she entered with a great flourish"

2. flourish(noun)

   an ornamental embellishment in writing

3. flourish(noun)

   a display of ornamental speech or language

4. flourish, brandish(noun)

   the act of waving

5. flourish, fanfare, tucket(verb)

   (music) a short lively tune played on brass instruments

   "he entered to a flourish of trumpets"; "her arrival was greeted with a rousing fanfare"

6. boom, thrive, flourish, expand(verb)

   grow vigorously

   "The deer population in this town is thriving"; "business is booming"

7. thrive, prosper, fly high, flourish(verb)

   make steady progress; be at the high point in one's career or reach a high point in historical significance or importance

   "The new student is thriving"

8. brandish, flourish, wave(verb)

   move or swing back and forth

   "She waved her gun"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. flourish(Noun)

   A dramatic gesture such as the waving of a flag.

   With many flourishes of the captured banner, they marched down the avenue.

2. flourish(Noun)

   An ornamentation.

   His signature ended with a flourish.

3. flourish(Noun)

   A ceremonious passage such as a fanfare.

   The trumpets blew a flourish as they entered the church.

4. flourish(Noun)

   A decorative embellishment on a building.

5. flourish(Verb)

   To thrive or grow well.

   The barley flourished in the warm weather.

6. flourish(Verb)

   To prosper or fare well.

7. flourish(Verb)

   To be in a period of greatest influence.

   His writing flourished before the war.

8. flourish(Verb)

   To make bold, sweeping movements with.

   They flourished the banner as they stormed the palace.

Origin: From florisshen, flurisshen, and from floriss-, stem of some conjugated forms of florir, ( fleurir);, from florire, from floreo (with influence from flōrēscō), from flos. See flower + -ish.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Flourish(verb)

   to grow luxuriantly; to increase and enlarge, as a healthy growing plant; a thrive

2. Flourish(verb)

   to be prosperous; to increase in wealth, honor, comfort, happiness, or whatever is desirable; to thrive; to be prominent and influental; specifically, of authors, painters, etc., to be in a state of activity or production

3. Flourish(verb)

   to use florid language; to indulge in rhetorical figures and lofty expressions; to be flowery

4. Flourish(verb)

   to make bold and sweeping, fanciful, or wanton movements, by way of ornament, parade, bravado, etc.; to play with fantastic and irregular motion

5. Flourish(verb)

   to make ornamental strokes with the pen; to write graceful, decorative figures

6. Flourish(verb)

   to execute an irregular or fanciful strain of music, by way of ornament or prelude

7. Flourish(verb)

   to boast; to vaunt; to brag

8. Flourish(verb)

   to adorn with flowers orbeautiful figures, either natural or artificial; to ornament with anything showy; to embellish

9. Flourish(verb)

   to embellish with the flowers of diction; to adorn with rhetorical figures; to grace with ostentatious eloquence; to set off with a parade of words

10. Flourish(verb)

    to move in bold or irregular figures; to swing about in circles or vibrations by way of show or triumph; to brandish

11. Flourish(verb)

    to develop; to make thrive; to expand

12. Flourish(noun)

    a flourishing condition; prosperity; vigor

13. Flourish(noun)

    decoration; ornament; beauty

14. Flourish(noun)

    something made or performed in a fanciful, wanton, or vaunting manner, by way of ostentation, to excite admiration, etc.; ostentatious embellishment; ambitious copiousness or amplification; parade of words and figures; show; as, a flourish of rhetoric or of wit

15. Flourish(noun)

    a fanciful stroke of the pen or graver; a merely decorative figure

16. Flourish(noun)

    a fantastic or decorative musical passage; a strain of triumph or bravado, not forming part of a regular musical composition; a cal; a fanfare

17. Flourish(noun)

    the waving of a weapon or other thing; a brandishing; as, the flourish of a sword

Origin: [OE. florisshen, flurisshen, OF. flurir, F. fleurir, fr. L. florere to bloom, fr. flos, floris, flower. See Flower, and -ish.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Flourish

   flur′ish, v.i. to thrive luxuriantly: to be prosperous: to use copious and flowery language: to move in fantastic figures: to display ostentatiously: (mus.) to play ostentatious passages, or ostentatiously: to play a trumpet-call: to make ornamental strokes with the pen: to boast or brag.—v.t. to adorn with flourishes or ornaments: to swing about by way of show or triumph: (Shak.) to gloss over.—n. decoration: showy splendour: a figure made by a bold stroke of the pen: the waving of a weapon or other thing: a parade of words: a musical prelude: a trumpet-call.—adjs. Flour′ished, decorated with flourishes; Flour′ishing, thriving: prosperous: making a show.—adv. Flour′ishingly.—adj. Flour′ishy, abounding in flourishes.—Flourish of trumpets, a trumpet-call sounded on the approach of great persons; any ostentatious introduction. [O. Fr. florir, L. flos, flower.]

British National Corpus

1. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'flourish' in Verbs Frequency: #1087

How to pronounce flourish?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say flourish in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of flourish in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of flourish in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of flourish in a Sentence

1. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley:

   Virtue can only flourish among equals.

2. Gavin Gibbons:

   '' But these type of things flourish in the shadows.

3. Cometan:

   Allowing him to flourish is killing my chance to flower.

4. Ziyavudin Magomedov:

   Then everything will flourish in glorious colors, the time is ripe for reforms.

5. Aurora Berill:

   Learn something useful from every mistake if you want to flourish in your life.

Images & Illustrations of flourish

Popularity rank by frequency of use