vim

Ready vitality and vigour.

Noun

  1. Ready vitality and vigour.
    • But he was, doubtless, totally unconscious that he was to be the chief personage in this most important story, or he would have acted out his real nature with all the vim and pathos which heroes always manifest in like...
    • The Yankees fought with pluck to the last, but the vigor and vim of the attack was too much for them. They were Michigan men, and were quite indignant at being called "Yankees." - 1864, “Personne” [pseudonym; Felix...
    • Larry is not good at a slow tune, or chune as he calls it, but he comes out strong in "jigs, strathspeys, and reels," and he "whacked off" "Tullochgorum," "Killiecrankie," and the "Braes o' Tullymet and Mar," not to...

    Synonyms: energy go pep pizzazz verve zest

Origin

Possibly from Latin vim, accusative singular of vīs (“force, power, strength; (New Latin) energy, force”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- (“to chase, pursue”); compare English vis); but perhaps a modern expressive formation.

Related

vis violence violate enthusiasm

Derived

vim and vigor vimful vimless vim vitae