different between mirth vs vivacity

English

Etymology

From Middle English merth, myrthe, murhthe, from Old English mergþ, mirgþ, myrgþ (“mirth, joy”), from Proto-Germanic *murgiþ? (“briefness, brevity”); equivalent to merry +? -th.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /m???/, [m??]; enPR: mûrth
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /m???/
• Rhymes: -??(?)?

Noun

mirth (usually uncountable, plural mirths)

1. The emotion usually following humour and accompanied by laughter; merriment; jollity; gaiety.
   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island:

     And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that, though I did not see the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth.

   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl:

     Their eyes met and they began to laugh. They laughed as children do when they cannot contain themselves, and can not explain the cause of their mirth to grown people, but share it perfectly together.

2. That which causes merriment.
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:

     Phantasmal mirth, folded away: muskperfumed.

Synonyms

• (emotion): delight, glee, hilarity, jollity

Antonyms

• (emotion): sadness, gloom

Derived terms

Translations

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English myrgþ.

Noun

mirth

1. Alternative form of myrthe

Etymology 2

Derived from myrthe (noun).

Verb

mirth

1. Alternative form of myrthen

English

Etymology

vivac(ious) +? -ity, borrowed from Latin v?v?cit?s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /v??væs?ti/
• Hyphenation: vi?va?ci?ty

Noun

vivacity (countable and uncountable, plural vivacities)

1. The quality or state of being vivacious.
   • 1612, Francis Bacon, Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, “Of Youth and Age,”^[1]

     But reposed natures may do well in youth. […] On the other side, heat and vivacity in age, is an excellent composition for business.

   • 1738, David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, Book I, Part I, Section III. Of the Ideas of the Memory and the Imagination,^[2]

     We find by experience, that when any impression has been present with the mind, it again makes its appearance there as an idea; and this it may do after two different ways: either when in its new appearance it retains a considerable degree of its first vivacity, and is somewhat intermediate betwixt an impression and an idea: or when it entirely loses that vivacity, and is a perfect idea.

   • 1766, Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield, Chapter 1,^[3]

     The one entertained me with her vivacity when I was gay, the other with her sense when I was serious.

   • 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Chapter 2,^[4]

     In the name of truth and common sense, why should not one woman acknowledge that she can take more exercise than another? or, in other words, that she has a sound constitution; and why to damp innocent vivacity, is she darkly to be told, that men will draw conclusions which she little thinks of?

   • 1819, Walter Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor, Chapter 5,^[5]

     Some secret sorrow, or the brooding spirit of some moody passion, had quenched the light and ingenuous vivacity of youth in a countenance singularly fitted to display both […]

   • 1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Chapter 2,^[6]

     […] an extraordinary observer might have seen that the chin was very pointed and pronounced; that the big eyes were full of spirit and vivacity; that the mouth was sweet-lipped and expressive; that the forehead was broad and full; in short, our discerning extraordinary observer might have concluded that no commonplace soul inhabited the body of this stray woman-child […]

Synonyms

• liveliness
• vivaciousness

Translations

Anagrams

• vacivity