exuberant

See also: exubérant

English

WOTD – 28 August 2010

Etymology

From Middle French exubérant, from Latin exūberāns, the present active participle of exūberō (“be abundant”). Put together from ex (“out”), and uber (“udder”), and originally would have referred to a cow or she-goat which was making so much milk that it naturally dripped or sprayed from the udder.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzuːbəɹənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

exuberant (comparative more exuberant, superlative most exuberant)

1. (of people) Very cheery and peppy; extremely cheerful, energetic and enthusiastic.

   Synonyms: buoyant, cheerful, high-spirited

   exuberant feeling

   • 1882, Frank R. Stockton, The Lady or the Tiger?:

     He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal of an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts.

   • 1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22:

     She was a tall, earthy, exuberant girl with long hair and a pretty face.

2. (literary, of things that grow) Abundant, luxuriant.

   Synonyms: profuse, superabundant

   exuberant foliage

   • 1852, The Ark, and Odd Fellows' Western Magazine:

     It pencilled each flower with rich and variegated hues, and threw over its exuberant foliage a vesture of emerald green.

   • 1972, Ken Lemmon, "Restoration Work at Studley Royal," Garden History, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 22:

     The County Architect's Department is starting to pleach trees to open up these vistas, now almost hidden by the exuberant growth.

Derived terms

• exuberantly

Related terms

• exuberance

Translations

of people: very high-spirited

• Dutch: uitbundig (nl)
• Finnish: elämäniloinen
• Galician: exuberante (gl)
• German: exuberant, überschwänglich (de), ausgelassen (de), lebendig (de), enthusiastisch (de)
• Maori: tūkōripi
• Norwegian: energisk
• Occitan: exuberant (oc)
• Polish: entuzjastyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: exuberante (pt)
• Russian: энерги́чный (ru) (energíčnyj), бью́щий че́рез край (bʹjúščij čérez kraj), бью́щий ключо́м (bʹjúščij ključóm), неудержи́мый (ru) (neuderžímyj), бу́рный (ru) (búrnyj)

abundant, luxuriant, profuse, superabundant

• Armenian: ճոխ (hy) (čox), փարթամ (hy) (pʻartʻam)
• Bulgarian: изобилен (bg) (izobilen)
• Catalan: exuberant
• Dutch: overvloedig (nl), overdadig (nl), uitbundig (nl), exuberant (nl)
• Finnish: rehevä (fi)
• French: exubérant (fr)
• German: üppig (de)
• Hungarian: túláradó (hu), exuberáns
• Ido: abundanta (io)
• Occitan: exuberant (oc)
• Polish: bujny (pl), wybujały
• Portuguese: exuberante (pt)
• Russian: оби́льный (ru) (obílʹnyj), изоби́льный (ru) (izobílʹnyj), бу́йный (ru) (bújnyj), пы́шный (ru) (pýšnyj), пы́шно расту́щий (pýšno rastúščij)
• Spanish: exuberante (es)

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.

Further reading

• “exuberant”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “exuberant”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Latin

Verb

exūberant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of exūberō

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin exūberāns.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Béarn)

  (file)

Adjective

exuberant m (feminine singular exuberanta, masculine plural exuberants, feminine plural exuberantas)

1. exuberant (of a person: very high-spirited)
2. exuberant (abundant)

Related terms

• exuberància

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French exubérant, from Latin exuberans.

Adjective

exuberant m or n (feminine singular exuberantă, masculine plural exuberanți, feminine and neuter plural exuberante)

1. exuberant

Declension

Declension of exuberant

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	exuberant		exuberantă	exuberanți	exuberante
	definite	exuberantul		exuberanta	exuberanții	exuberantele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	exuberant		exuberante	exuberanți	exuberante
	definite	exuberantului		exuberantei	exuberanților	exuberantelor