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ENTHUSIASTIC
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having or showing great excitement and interest
Example:
was enthusiastic about taking ballet lessons
Classified under:
Similar:
ardent; warm (characterized by strong enthusiasm)
avid; zealous (marked by active interest and enthusiasm)
crazy; dotty; gaga; wild (intensely enthusiastic about or preoccupied with)
evangelical; evangelistic (marked by ardent or zealous enthusiasm for a cause)
glowing (highly enthusiastic)
gung ho (very enthusiastic and dedicated)
overenthusiastic (unduly enthusiastic)
Also:
passionate (having or expressing strong emotions)
spirited (displaying animation, vigor, or liveliness)
Antonym:
unenthusiastic (not enthusiastic; lacking excitement or ardor)
Derivation:
enthusiasm (a lively interest)
enthusiasm (a feeling of excitement)
Context examples:
Tumultuous applause followed but received an unexpected check, for the cot bed, on which the dress circle was built, suddenly shut up and extinguished the enthusiastic audience.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
His conversation, I remember, was about the Bertillon system of measurements, and he expressed his enthusiastic admiration of the French savant.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The yell which greeted him was even more enthusiastic than that which had heralded Wilson, and there was a louder ring of admiration in it, for the crowd had already had their opportunity of seeing Wilson’s physique, whilst Harrison’s was a surprise to them.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Impulsive he might be, enthusiastic, sensitive, with something sympathetic and adaptive in his disposition; but an observer of nature's tokens would have confidently pledged himself that there was native firmness and strength underlying his gentle, monk-bred ways.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Bessie had been down into the kitchen, and she brought up with her a tart on a certain brightly painted china plate, whose bird of paradise, nestling in a wreath of convolvuli and rosebuds, had been wont to stir in me a most enthusiastic sense of admiration; and which plate I had often petitioned to be allowed to take in my hand in order to examine it more closely, but had always hitherto been deemed unworthy of such a privilege.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
With Mars, your ruler, friendly, you are likely to be enthusiastic and have great energy.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
But she did not seem to be so enthusiastic over it.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
"Two thousand a-year;" and then working himself up to a pitch of enthusiastic generosity, he added, "Elinor, I wish with all my heart it were TWICE as much, for your sake."
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The young girl spoke in high and enthusiastic terms of her mother, who, born in freedom, spurned the bondage to which she was now reduced.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
