live wire

noun

: an alert, active, or aggressive person
live-wire adjective

Examples of live wire in a Sentence

She's a real live wire. the babysitter will have her hands full with those two little live wires
Recent Examples on the Web In addition to electricity outages, downed lines cause wildfires when live wires come in contact with vegetation. Nives Dolsak and Aseem Prakash, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2024 Officials elsewhere warned that the water could contain live wires, sewage, sharp objects and other debris. Stephen Smith, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2024 He was rushed to a regional burn unit after accidentally touching a live wire while holding a ground wire in his left hand, NYU Langone said. Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 9 Sep. 2024 Eastbound and westbound Interstate 96 is closed between Milford and Wixom roads due to a live wire downed across all lanes of the freeway Friday morning. Kylie Martin, Detroit Free Press, 9 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for live wire 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'live wire.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1881, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of live wire was in 1881

Dictionary Entries Near live wire

Cite this Entry

“Live wire.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/live%20wire. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

live wire

noun
: an alert, active, or forceful person
live-wire adjective

More from Merriam-Webster on live wire

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!