Enthusiasm

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Enthusiasm \En*thu"si*asm\, n. [Gr. ?, fr. ? to be inspired or
     possessed by the god, fr. ?, ?, inspired: cf. enthousiasme.
     See {Entheal}, {Theism}.]
     1. Inspiration as if by a divine or superhuman power;
        ecstasy; hence, a conceit of divine possession and
        revelation, or of being directly subject to some divine


        impulse.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Enthusiasm is founded neither on reason nor divine
              revelation, but rises from the conceits of a warmed
              or overweening imagination.           --Locke.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A state of impassioned emotion; transport; elevation of
        fancy; exaltation of soul; as, the poetry of enthusiasm.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Resolutions adopted in enthusiasm are often repented
              of when excitement has been succeeded by the wearing
              duties of hard everyday routine.      --Froude.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Exhibiting the seeming contradiction of
              susceptibility to enthusiasm and calculating
              shrewdness.                           --Bancroft.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Enkindled and kindling fervor of soul; strong excitement
        of feeling on behalf of a cause or a subject; ardent and
        imaginative zeal or interest; as, he engaged in his
        profession with enthusiasm.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
                                                    --Emerson.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Lively manifestation of joy or zeal.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Philip was greeted with a tumultuous enthusiasm.
                                                    --Prescott.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  enthusiasm
       n 1: a feeling of excitement
       2: overflowing with enthusiasm [syn: {exuberance}, {ebullience}]
       3: a lively interest; "enthusiasm for his program is growing"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  103 Moby Thesaurus words for "enthusiasm":
     acquiescence, activity, agreeability, agreeableness, alacrity,
     amenability, amusement, animation, ardency, ardor, avidity, brio,
     briskness, bug, calenture, cathexis, cheerful consent, compliance,
     concern, concernment, consent, cooperativeness, craze, crazy fancy,
     curiosity, devotedness, devotion, diversion, docility, eagerness,
     earnest, earnestness, ebullience, elan, enthusiasticalness,
     excitement, exuberance, fad, fanaticism, fascination,
     favorable disposition, favorableness, fervency, fervor, fieriness,
     fire, forwardness, furor, furore, gameness, glow, goodwill, gusto,
     hobby, hurrah, impassionedness, impetuosity, impetus, infatuation,
     interest, joie de vivre, keenness, life, liveliness, lustiness,
     mania, manic-depressive psychosis, matter of interest, mettle,
     passion, pastime, perkiness, pertness, pliability, pliancy,
     promptness, rage, readiness, receptive mood, receptiveness,
     receptivity, relish, responsiveness, right mood, robustness,
     special interest, spirit, spiritedness, tractability,
     ungrudgingness, unloathness, unreluctance, vehemence, vivacity,
     warmth, willing ear, willing heart, willingness, zeal, zealousness,
     zest, zestfulness, zing
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  ENTHUSIASM, n.  A distemper of youth, curable by small doses of
  repentance in connection with outward applications of experience. 
  Byron, who recovered long enough to call it "entuzy-muzy," had a
  relapse, which carried him off -- to Missolonghi.