vivify

viv·ify
V4I1V4I1F4Y4
/ˈvɪvɪfaɪ/

verb

To bring to life; to enliven.

Scrabble 18

Meanings

verbvivify (third-person singular simple present vivifies, present participle vivifying, simple past and past participle vivified)

present singular third person vivifies · participle present vivifying · participle past vivified · past vivified

  1. 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 Ambiguities
    2 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
  2. transitiveTo impart vitality to.

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Late Latinvivificō
  2. Old Frenchvivifier
  3. Englishvivify

borrowed from Old French vivifier, from Late Latin vivificō.

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
APA

vivify. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vivify

MLA

“vivify.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vivify. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vivify,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vivify.

Source: vivify on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.