spirit
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The soul of a person or other creature.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
spihruhtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈspɪɹət
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
usually in the plural
A volatile liquid, such as alcohol. The plural form spirits is a generic term for distilled alcoholic beverages.
A supernatural being, often but not exclusively without physical form; ghost, fairy, angel.
Intent; real meaning; opposed to the letter, or formal statement.
Animation and energy in action or expression
One who is vivacious or lively; one who evinces great activity or peculiar characteristics of mind or temper.
Energy; ardour.
verb
Sometimes followed by up: to animate with vigour; to excite; to encourage; to inspirit.
To carry off, especially in haste, secrecy, or mystery.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The soul of a person or other creature.
Used this way, spirit is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use spirit
- “The team showed great spirit even after losing the game.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
An alcoholic beverage that is distilled rather than fermented.
Displaying animation, vigor, or liveliness.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A kind of religious song originated by Blacks in the southern United States.
In a spiritual manner.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A solution of ammonium carbonate in ammonia water and alcohol.
Rectified ethyl alcohol.
Carry off mysteriously.
An adhesive solution made of gum and ether and used to attach false hair to skin.
A lamp that burns a volatile liquid fuel such as alcohol.
Indicator that establishes the horizontal when a bubble is centered in a tube of liquid.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A belief that there is a realm controlled by a divine spirit.
A belief that there is a realm controlled by a divine spirit.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.