Dictionary

ebullient en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ɪˈbʌliənt/
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ɪˈbʊliənt/

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin ēbulliēns, present participle of ēbulliō (“to boil”), from bulliō (“to bubble up”) (English boil). Compare bubbling, bubbly, and perky, which use a similar metaphor.

Meanings

1. Enthusiastic; high-spirited.
   • The Spring will come with its ebullient blood, / With flush of roses and imperial eyes 1908, James Ryder Randall, “Ashes”, in Maryland, my Maryland, and other poems, Baltimore, Md.; New York: John Murphy Company, page 45:
   • But now, as an ebullient Mr. Milei declares his government the most successful in history and assures Argentines they’ll soon collect on the economic revival he pledged would follow the pain, the bar is getting higher even as risks remain. 2024 December 10, Isabel Depre, “After President Milei’s first year, Argentina’s economy is looking strangely ... normal”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
   • Marina's oddly ebullient words seemed to come to her slow as balloons 2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance, paperback edition, Fourth Estate, page 233:
   • Boris Johnson, the ebullient editor of the Spectator and Tory MP for Henley, is at the centre of a Scotland Yard inquiry over an allegedly racist article by the columnist Taki which provoked death threats against a leading black lawyer. 2003 February 28, Nick Hopkins, “Spectator and its Tory MP editor may face charges over Taki race rant”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
2. (archaic) Of a liquid: boiling and bubbling, or agitated as if boiling.
3. (archaic) Causing heat.
   • It is allowed, that Senates and great Councils are often troubled with redundant, ebullient, and other peccant Humours, with many Diſeaſes of the Head and more of the Heart; with ſtrong Convulſions, with grievous Contractions of the Nerves and Sinews in both Hands, but eſpecially the Right; with Spleen, Flatus, Vertigos and Deliriums; with Scrophulous Tumors full of fœtid purulent Matter; with ſower frothy Ructations, with Canine Appetites and Crudeneſs of Digeſtion, beſides many others needleſs to mention. 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Further Account of the Academy. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 82:

Forms

Deriveds

ebulliently

Relateds

ebullience

Synonyms

bubbly · fizzy · gassy · abubble · bubblesome · sparkling · spumescent · foamy · ebullient · sparkly · frothy · abubble · effervescent · zestful · bubbly

Translations (29)

hu túláradó (agitated) · sh vrckav (enthusiastic) · es extático (enthusiastic) · nl uitgelaten (enthusiastic) · af uitbundig (enthusiastic) · mi irirangi (agitated) · pl pobudzony (agitated) · bg ентусиазиран (enthusiastic) · bg разпален (enthusiastic) · af entoesiasties (enthusiastic) · ru кипучий (agitated) · mi kōmingo (agitated) · es jubiloso (enthusiastic) · de übersprudelnd (agitated) · mi ngākau hihiko (enthusiastic) · es bullente (agitated) · no sprudlende (enthusiastic) · pl entuzjastyczny (enthusiastic) · es entusiasta (enthusiastic) · nl uitbundig (agitated) · de ausgelassen (enthusiastic) · it bollente (agitated) · ru взволнованный (agitated) · sh prpošan (enthusiastic) · es alborozado (enthusiastic) · de überschwenglich (enthusiastic) · sh kipteći (agitated) · bg врящ (agitated) · bg кипящ (agitated)