alive
/əˈlʌɪv
/adjective [predicative]
1(Of a person, animal, or plant) living, not dead: hopes of finding anyone still alive were fading he was kept alive by a feeding tube...
- It would make no difference to Frank whether the creature was alive or dead.
- Most of us would accept that the cat is either alive or dead at a given time.
- I like to be reminded of the spring miracle, especially in the depth of winter, when the vibrantly alive trees look so dead.
Synonyms
living, live, having life, not dead;
breathing, moving;
vital, vigorous, flourishing, dynamic, energetic, functioning;
animate, organic, biological, sentient;
existing, existent
informal in the land of the living, among the living, alive and kicking
archaic quick
1.1Continuing in existence or use: keeping hope alive fortunately the old recipes are very much alive...
- They kept his memory alive by continuing to cook up The Recipe.
- Teams want to help keep Joel's memory alive by continuing his work, and the response really has been something else.
- Joe realises that younger people may find it difficult to realise why this sense of nostalgia is so important to him but he continues to try to keep the memory of bygone days alive.
Synonyms
active, existing, in existence, existent, extant, functioning, in operation, ongoing, going on, continuing, surviving, persisting, remaining, abiding;
prevalent, current, contemporary, present
informal on the map, on the agenda
2Alert and active; animated: Ken comes alive when he hears his music played...
- Paradoxically, the librarian comes alive in his animated form.
- On stage he comes alive and places the audience under a spell; outside of it, he works fiercely with a number of charities and human rights organisations.
- He relaxes, and he comes alive - he turns on the charm.
Synonyms
animated, lively, full of life, alert, active, energetic, vigorous, spry, sprightly, vital, vibrant, vivacious, buoyant, exuberant, ebullient, zestful, spirited, enthusiastic, eager, bouncy, bubbly, perky, sparkling
informal full of beans, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, bright and breezy, sparky, chirpy, chipper, peppy, full of vim and vigour, (still) going strong
North American informal peart
2.1Having interest and meaning: we hope we will make history come alive for the children...
- It is a gifted novelist, indeed, who can make ordinary events come alive, and who can interest the reader in ordinary, even dull, characters.
- It was really interesting to watch the levels come alive as the team found better and smarter ways of doing things.
- The channel did, after all, make northern Jersey come alive.
3 (alive to) Aware of and interested in; responsive to: she was always alive to new ideas...
- In foreign affairs we have pursued our national interest robustly while remaining alive to the needs and interests of others.
- The respondent must have been alive to the possibility that a cyclist could come along.
- He was socially conscious in every sense, alive to the possibilities of celebrating what he found.
Synonyms
alert to, awake to, aware of, sensitive to, conscious of, mindful of, heedful of, watchful of, responsive to;
familiar with, cognizant of, apprised of, sensible of
informal wise to, hip to
4 (alive with) Swarming or teeming with: in spring those cliffs are alive with auks and gulls...
- The format of this book is alive with visuals and packed with persuasive language.
- The town will be alive with an abundance of colour and plenty of entertainment for all the family.
- Obscure slices of history and allegories abound and every spot comes alive with some parable or other.
Synonyms
teeming, swarming, thronged, overflowing, overrun, bristling, bustling, rife, infested, thick, crowded, packed;
full of, abounding in
informal crawling, lousy, hopping, stuffed, jam-packed, chock-a-block, chock-full of, buzzing, jumping
Scottish hoaching, hotching
rare pullulating
Phrases
alive and kicking
alive and well
Derivatives
aliveness
- Authentic choices and actions bring forth spirit: the energy that gives courage, passion, vitality, intensity, and aliveness to our existence.
- Mauri is the unique life-force, the vitality, source and essential energy that drives existence, aliveness and being.
- I mean it in the concrete sense that is used in everyday life, the sense of soul, feeling, connectedness, inspiration, and aliveness.
Origin
Old English on līfe, literally 'in life'.
live from Old English:
In the sense ‘to be alive’, live goes back to the same root as life. The other live, with a different pronunciation, is a mid16th-century shortening of alive (Old English). The proverb live and let live is identified as Dutch in the earliest known reference, from 1622. Live and Let Die, the 1954 James Bond book, filmed in 1973, subverted it. The rhyme ‘He who fights and runs away / Lives to fight another day’ gives us the phrase live to fight another day. The idea is found in the works of the Greek comic playwright Menander, who lived from around 342 to 292 bc.