Make Your Point > Archived Issues > EBULLIENT
Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.
connect this word to others:
The Latin bullire, meaning "to boil or to bubble," gave us words like boil, budge, bullion, and the word we're checking out now: ebullient, which means "bubbly with excitement, boiling with enthusiasm."
(Above, Pixar's yellow tang fish Bubbles, getting ebullient about his bubbles.)
Speaking of boiling and bubbling, see if you can recall these words:
1. To s____r is to bubble quietly without getting hot enough to boil, or to keep experiencing bad emotions (like anger or frustration) for a long time, at a low or medium intensity, often in a hidden way.
2. To ef_____sce is to bubble, or to display a bubbly liveliness or a bubbly excitement.
3. A fl______nt is a place or time when something figuratively catches fire: when it boils out or bubbles into being, becoming extremely violent or emotional.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"EBULLIENT"
From Latin roots meaning "boiling out" or "bubbling out," the word "ebullient" means "boiling with joy or excitement."
In other words, ebullient people and things are so full of joyous excitement that they seem to be boiling or bubbling.
Pronunciation:
Either "ih BOOL yunt" or "ih BUL yunt."
I prefer "ih BUL yunt," with the middle syllable rhyming with "hull," not "pull."
Part of speech:
Adjective: "an ebullient mood," "I've never seen him this ebullient."
Other forms:
The adverb is "ebulliently."
We've got three versions of the noun. I recommend sticking with the most common one, "ebullience," but there's also "ebulliency" and "ebullition(s)."
How to use it:
Save this strong, emphatic word for people and things that are so warm with excitement that they seem to be bubbling and boiling. (It's a warmer, more vigorous word than "happy," "excited," "joyful," "bouncy," and "buoyant.")
Talk about an ebullient person or an ebullient group or crowd, or about someone being or feeling ebullient. Or, say that someone is ebullient on, at, or about something: "She's ebullient at the news."
Or, talk about someone's ebullient joy, wit, humor, warmth, energy, mood, spirit, personality, voice, tone, chatter, conversation, smile, gesture, performance, etc.
You can also use "ebullient" to describe music, comedy, art, writing, and other creations. In particular, "ebullient" appears often in public praise for books.
examples:
We love Alton Brown for his ebullience in the kitchen, how he zips from task to task, rattling off facts and trivia about food and science.
"[The novel Mr. Dickens and his Carol is] as foggy and haunted and redemptive as the original; it’s all heart, and I read it in a couple of ebullient, Christmassy gulps."
— Anthony Doerr for Macmillan Publishers
has this page helped you understand "ebullient"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "ebullient" without saying "warm with joy" or "bubbly."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Some song, book, show, movie, performance, or performer) is ebullient with (some particular features)."
Example: "Planet Funny is ebullient with quips, anecdotes, and silly footnotes."
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
Our game this month is Distinctive Definitions.
We're taking a scenic slog through poetic and philosophical definitions, wading through similes, metaphors, personifications, hyperboles, grandiloquence, and cheesiness.
In each issue, consider a definition provided by a poet, a writer, or a philosopher, and see if you can name the definiendum: the thing or concept being defined. (Is it life, love, time, death, music, sleep, pain, laughter, bubblegum, stubbing your toe…???) For example, James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) said, "What men call ________ and the Gods call dross." He’s defining something—what is it? "Treasure."
Now, you can play this game in earnest, trying to think of what the poet actually wrote--or you can play it for laughs, supplying the silliest or most sarcastic answer you can muster.
To take the silliness to the next level, gather your friends or family, deal each person a hand of cards from your copy of Apples to Apples (great for kids) or Cards Against Humanity (not for kids!!), and enjoy the ensuing hilarity. (In these games, players take turns being the judge for each round, picking the funniest from everyone’s submissions.) "What men call stretch limos and the Gods call dross." "What men call Morgan Freeman's voice and the Gods call dross."
From the previous issue:
Theodore Chickering Williams (1855-1915) said,
"_____ is a voyage. The winds of _____ come strong
From every point; yet each will speed thy course along,
If thou with steady hand when tempests blow
Canst keep thy course aright and never once let go."
Answer: Life.
Try this one today:
John Davidson (1857-1909) said,
"That minister of ministers,
_____, gathers up
The undiscovered Universe,
Like jewels in a jasper cup."
review this word:
1. One opposite of EBULLIENT is
A. WAXING.
B. TRUTHFUL.
C. MELANCHOLY.
2. BBC's Mark Savage referred to a 1970 tune as "an ebullient, _____."
A. sweeping drama
B. exploitative mistake
C. horn-driven blast of positivity
a final word:
Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From Liesl's blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
The Latin bullire, meaning "to boil or to bubble," gave us words like boil, budge, bullion, and the word we're checking out now: ebullient, which means "bubbly with excitement, boiling with enthusiasm."
(Above, Pixar's yellow tang fish Bubbles, getting ebullient about his bubbles.) From Latin roots meaning "boiling out" or "bubbling out," the word "ebullient" means "boiling with joy or excitement."
We love Alton Brown for his ebullience in the kitchen, how he zips from task to task, rattling off facts and trivia about food and science.
Explain the meaning of "ebullient" without saying "warm with joy" or "bubbly."
Fill in the blanks: "(Some song, book, show, movie, performance, or performer) is ebullient with (some particular features)."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. One opposite of EBULLIENT is
|