Meanings
- uncountableThe life force or vital principle posited in the philosophy of Henri Bergson; any mysterious or creative vital principle.
She turned astonished blue eyes towards Mr. Wimbush, then let them fall on to the seething mass of élan vital that fermented in the sty.
1921, Aldous Huxley, chapter 5, in Crome Yellow, London: Chatto & Windus, page 402 more examples
Progress was a labyrinth. . . people plunging blindly in and then rushing wildly back, shouting that they had found it. . . the invisible king—the élan vital—the principle of evolution. . .
1920 April, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter 5, in This Side of Paradise, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book II (The Education of a Personage), page 285Electricity! the force of the future—for everything, you know, including the élan vital itself, will soon be proven electrical in nature.
2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, reprint edition (fiction; paperback), New York: Penguin Books, published 2007, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 714
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Frenchélan vital“life force”
- Englishélan vital
An unadapted borrowing from French élan vital (“life force”, literally “vital impetus or force”), coined by Henri Bergson in 1907.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 生命衝動 /生命冲动
- 生命衝動 /生命冲动 (shēngmìng chōngdòng)life force in the philosophy of Henri Bergson
French élan vital
- élan vitallife force in the philosophy of Henri Bergson
Polish élan vital
- élan vitallife force in the philosophy of Henri Bergson
Cite this entry
élan vital. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/%C3%A9lan%20vital
“élan vital.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/%C3%A9lan%20vital. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “élan vital,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/%C3%A9lan%20vital.
Source: élan vital on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.