Meanings
present singular third person vivifies · participle present vivifying · participle past vivified · past vivified
- transitiveTo bring to life; to enliven.
She seemed molded from fire and air, and vivified at some Voltaic pile of August thunder-clouds heaped against the sunset.
1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities2 more examples
Persephone, the life force which vivifies all in the spring time, producing the manifold harvests of earth, descends with Plouton to the under world in autumn.
1893 April 30, “Society”, in Sioux City Journal, number 7349, Sioux City, Ia.: Perkins Bros. Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, part 2, page 9, column 6[T]he sculptor lifted it [a round block of stone], turned it hither and thither in his hands, brushed off the clinging soil, and finally placed it on the slender neck of the newly discovered statue. The effect was magical. It immediately lighted up and vivified the whole figure, endowing it with personality, soul, and intelligence.
1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “A Walk on the Campagna”, in The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni. […], volume II, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 237
Synonyms & antonyms
verbgive new life or energy to
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latinvivificō
- Old Frenchvivifier
- Englishvivify
borrowed from Old French vivifier, from Late Latin vivificō.
More words from Old French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian съживявам, оживявам
- съживявам (săživjavam)to bring to life
- оживявам (oživjavam)to impart vitality
French vivifier
- vivifierto bring to life
German beleben
- belebento bring to life
Italian vivificare
- vivificareto bring to life
Latin vivifico
- vivificoto bring to life
Russian оживи́ть, вдохну́ть жизнь
- оживи́ть (oživítʹ)to bring to life
- вдохну́ть жизнь (vdoxnútʹ žiznʹ)to impart vitality
Ukrainian оживля́ти, оживи́ти
- оживля́ти (ožyvljáty)to bring to life
- оживи́ти (ožyvýty)to bring to life
Cite this entry
vivify. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vivify
“vivify.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vivify. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vivify,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vivify.
Source: vivify on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.