• vibrant •
Pronunciation: vai-brênt • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: 1. Vigorous, lively, throbbing with life and activity, as 'a vibrant neighborhood'. 2. Resonating, strong, as 'vibrant voices'. 3. Bright, vivid, striking, as 'a vibrant blue.
Notes: The noun for today's Good Word is vibrancy or, if that is too many syllables, vibrance. The adverb is, as expected, vibrantly.
In Play: This word may be used to refer to active, exciting people: "Sally Forth was a bubbly, vibrant girl, full of life when Phil Anders met her." It may be used for anything that is lively and exciting, though: "New Monia, Pennsylvania, is widely known for the vibrant lifestyles of its inhabitants, all of whom take their flu shots every fall."
Word History: Today's Good Word was taken from Latin vibran(t)s "swaying", the present participle of vibrare "to sway, swing". The past participle of the same verb, vibratus, was snitched by English for vibrate and its family of words: vibrator, vibrative, vibration, etc. Latin took its word from the Proto-Indo-European root weip- "to turn, sway", which also went into the making of Sanskrit vepate "it flutters". In the Germanic languages it became Danish vippe "to flip", Dutch wippen "to hop, skip", and English wipe, waif and waver.
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