Definitions for flourish
ˈflɜr ɪʃ, ˈflʌr-flour·ish

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

1. flourishnoun

   a showy gesture

   "she entered with a great flourish"

2. flourishnoun

   an ornamental embellishment in writing

3. flourishnoun

   a display of ornamental speech or language

4. flourish, brandishnoun

   the act of waving

5. flourish, fanfare, tucketverb

   (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, expandverb

   grow vigorously

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

7. thrive, prosper, fly high, flourishverb

   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, waveverb

   move or swing back and forth

   "She waved her gun"

Wiktionary(3.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. flourishnoun

   A dramatic gesture such as the waving of a flag.

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

2. flourishnoun

   An ornamentation.

   His signature ended with a flourish.

3. flourishnoun

   A ceremonious passage such as a fanfare.

   The trumpets blew a flourish as they entered the church.

4. flourishnoun

   A decorative embellishment on a building.

5. flourishverb

   To thrive or grow well.

   The barley flourished in the warm weather.

6. flourishverb

   To prosper or fare well.

7. flourishverb

   To be in a period of greatest influence.

   His writing flourished before the war.

8. flourishverb

   To make bold, sweeping movements with.

   They flourished the banner as they stormed the palace.

9. Etymology: 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. Flourishverb

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

2. Flourishverb

   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. Flourishverb

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

4. Flourishverb

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

5. Flourishverb

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

6. Flourishverb

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

7. Flourishverb

   to boast; to vaunt; to brag

8. Flourishverb

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

9. Flourishverb

   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. Flourishverb

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

11. Flourishverb

    to develop; to make thrive; to expand

12. Flourishnoun

    a flourishing condition; prosperity; vigor

13. Flourishnoun

    decoration; ornament; beauty

14. Flourishnoun

    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. Flourishnoun

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

16. Flourishnoun

    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. Flourishnoun

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

18. Etymology: [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.]

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. flourish

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

2. flourish

   To execute an irregular or fanciful strain of music, by way of ornament or prelude, as, a flourish of trumpets.

Matched Categories

1. • Change State
   • Embellishment
   • Gesture
   • Grandiosity
   • Grow
   • Move
   • Wave

British National Corpus

1. Verbs Frequency

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

How to pronounce flourish?

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 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. George Pataki:

   My vision was not a partisan vision. It was a vision about people, about what we could accomplish together, if we are to flourish as a people, we have to fall in love with America again.

2. Marwan Mikhael:

   The parallel market will flourish more, you will have higher inflation.

3. Erika Lindsay:

   A primary role of our office is to provide programs and resources to help the arts and culture sector flourish and many arts and cultural organizations see the ability to become more inclusive as a major step towards their ability to thrive.

4. Dan Hurley:

   When the brain is exposed to discord and people are freaked out and yelling and screaming... the brain does not flourish in that environment, if a person can find peace and tranquility, their brain is going to respond better.

5. Antony Dapiran:

   The government and police created a very ripe environment for conspiracy theories to flourish in.

Popularity rank by frequency of use