verve

[ vurv ]
See synonyms for verve on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. enthusiasm or vigor, as in literary or artistic work; spirit: Her latest novel lacks verve.

  2. vivaciousness; liveliness; animation: I like a teacher with plenty of verve.

  1. Archaic. talent.

Origin of verve

1
1690–1700; <French: enthusiasm, whim, chatter, apparently <Latin verba words, talk, plural (taken in VL as feminine singular) of verbum word; see verb

Words Nearby verve

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use verve in a sentence

  • The pieces themselves were almost worthless; Byron would seem to have lost his verve during the removal.

    The English Stage | Augustin Filon
  • She played Cupid here with so much verve, point, impudence and sprightliness, that other Cupids were created for her.

    The English Stage | Augustin Filon
  • A sparkling society tale, full of verve and pathos, would have been another thing, and the editor might have been convinced by it.

    The Longest Journey | E. M. Forster
  • A long drink of red wine seemed to put him in the best of trim, and he began to fiddle with a verve that was irresistible.

  • She has all the dreamy, languid grace of the South combined with the verve and force of the North.

British Dictionary definitions for verve

verve

/ (vɜːv) /


noun
  1. great vitality, enthusiasm, and liveliness; sparkle

  2. a rare word for talent

Origin of verve

1
C17: from Old French: garrulity, from Latin verba words, chatter

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012