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carpe diem
[ kahr-pe dee-em; English kahr-pee dahy-uhm, kahr-pey dee-uhm ]
- Latin. seize the day; enjoy the present, as opposed to placing all hope in the future.
carpe diem
/ ˈkɑːpɪ ˈdiːɛm /
(no translation)
- enjoy the pleasures of the moment, without concern for the future
Carpe diem
- Latin for “Seize the day”: take full advantage of present opportunities. This sentiment is found not only in classical literature but in much of English literature as well ( see “ Gather ye rosebuds while ye may ” and “ Had we but world enough, and time, / This coyness, Lady, were no crime .”)
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Word History and Origins
Origin of carpe diem1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of carpe diem1
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Idioms and Phrases
Enjoy the present and don't worry about the future, as in It's a beautiful day, so forget tomorrow's test—carpe diem! Latin for “seize the day,” an aphorism found in the Roman writer Horace's Odes , this phrase has been used in English since the early 1800s.Discover More
Example Sentences
His motto was "Carpe diem," and he carefully contrived to live down to it.
He plucks the present—carpe diem, as Horace sings, and never for an instant troubles himself about the future.
In the mountains, as we are thus again shown, carpe diem is a wise blazon.
At one time, not very long before the moment of attack, I felt to its intensest depth the truth of the proverb, "Carpe diem."
He understands the epicurean precept of 'carpe diem' in a sense more befitting to human dignity.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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