ebullience

UK/ɪˈbʊl.i.əns/US/ɪˈbʊl.jəns/

nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Ebullience is bubbling high spirits. Irrepressible ebullience.

The image is literal, since the word is the Latin for boiling over. Ebullience is charming in short bursts and exhausting to be near all day.

Definitions of ebullience

1nounebullienceBubbling high spirits.C2
“His ebullience carried the whole evening.”

ebullience is a mood.

Where it comes from

Latin ebulliens, boiling out, from bullire, to boil, the same root as boil itself.

Proto-Indo-European
*bʰew- — to blow; to inflate
Latin
ēbullientem
English, today
ebullience

Built from

ēbulliēns · Latin — boiling
ēbulliō · Latin — to boil
bulliō · Latin — to bubble; to boil
bulla · Latin — bubble; bubble-shaped object

Borrowed from Latin ēbullientem + -ence. Ēbullientem is the accusative feminine or masculine singular of ēbulliēns (“boiling”), the present participle of ēbulliō (“to boil”) (from ē- + bulliō (“to bubble; to boil”) (from bulla (“bubble; bubble-shaped object”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰew- (“to blow; to inflate”))) + -ēns.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

← Vocabulary