Meanings
- historicalpluralplural onlymedicineThe theorized ‘spirits’ or physiological principles which allowed for sensation and voluntary movement.First known use 15th c.
His Brains will be found situated at the Head of the Os Pubis: His Animal Spirits acting more vigorously in that Part, than in the Upper Region.
1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury, section VI2 more examples
This is likewiſe evident in ſuch as walke in the night in their ſleep, and doe ſtrange feats: theſe vapours moue the Phantaſie, the Phantaſie the Appetite, which mouing the animall ſpirits, cauſeth the body to walke vp and downe, as if they were awake.
1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Of the force of Imagination”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 2, page 123you have all, I dare say, heard of the animal spirits, as how they are transfused from father to son &c. &c.—and a great deal to that purpose:– Well, you may take my word, that nine parts in ten of a man's sense of his nonsense, his successes and miscarriages in this world depend upon their motions and activity [...].
1759, Lawrence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Folio Society, published 2005, page 19 - pluralplural onlyLiveliness, vivacity, a happy tendency to action.First known use 18th c.
She had high animal spirits, and a sort of natural self-consequence, which the attention of the officers, to whom her uncle's good dinners, and her own easy manners recommended her, had increased into assurance.
1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Plain Label, published 1975, page 631 more example
Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as a result of animal spirits — of a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits multiplied by quantitative probabilities.
1936, John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, page 161 - pluralplural onlyeconomicsAfter Keynes (citation 1936, above), the emotional and intuitive factors that drive business decisions whether to make investment gambles.First known use 20th c.
The existence of animal spirits does not imply that "irrational psychology" is the controlling factor in business and economics.
2005, Roger S. Frantz, Two minds: intuition and analysis in the history of economic thought, page 912 more examples
This flaw exists because the financial system necessary for capitalist vitality and vigor — which translates entrepreneurial animal spirits into effective demand for investment — contains the potential for runaway expansion, powered by an investment boom.
1975, Hyman P. Minsky, John Maynard Keynes, page 11One of John Maynard Keynes's most famous terms, "animal spirits," is another name for much the same concept as irrational exuberance
2006, Robert J. Shiller, Irrational Exuberance, page 233
Origin
- Middle Englishspirite animal
- Englishanimal spirits
From Middle English spirite animal; equivalent to animal (adjective) + spirits.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
animal spirits. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/animal%20spirits
“animal spirits.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/animal%20spirits. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “animal spirits,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/animal%20spirits.
Source: animal spirits on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.