liven
/ˈlaɪvən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.63 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Let's liven up this party!"
- "Bacon's Rebellion (p. 54) has no political meaning for Mr. Bruce. Champlain's fight with the Iroquois is told to liven the narrative with a fight (p. 36), but the far-reaching result is merely hinted in a manner that means nothing to one who doesn't know. The ideals and purposes of the Jesuits are not mentioned."
- "[…] and he fought for others' banners, And he dined at others' tables, and he droned in others' hives, And he livened others' journeys, and he rhymed of others' tourneys, And he emptied others' flagons, and he flirted others' wives."
- "1958: Marco Polo, Ronald Latham (translator), The Travels of Marco Polo Instead of the picturesque fables* that liven the pages of ‘Sir John Mandeville’ and of many more authentic travellers, he gives us no less picturesque facts, and facts in great abundance."
- "1979: The American School Board Journal, volume 166, no. 1, January 1979, published by the National School Boards Association, caption to an image in the May 1979 section Visiting professionals frequently liven the day at the Elm Creative Arts School."
- "Anacreon […] celebrated wine and love and must have been a rousing fellow. Probably he livened heaven when he arrived."
Etymology
Partly from life + -en; partly from live (adjective) + -en; and partly a shortening of enliven. Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk livna (“to quicken, come alive”), Faroese livna (“to come to life, come alive”), Icelandic lifna (“to come to life”).