moxie

noun mox·ie \ ˈmäk-sē \

Updated on: 26 Apr 2018

Definition of moxie

1 : energy, pep

woke up full of moxie

2 : courage, determination

it takes … moxie to pull up roots and go to a land where the culture and probably the language are totally foreign
—M. J. McClary

3 : know-how

was impressed with his musical moxie and hired him as a solo

See moxie defined for English-language learners

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Examples of moxie in a Sentence

He showed a lot of moxie in questioning the policy.
it was old-fashioned military moxie that got medical supplies to the disaster site in record time

Recent Examples of moxie from the Web

The Irish, whose other two losses this season were to Louisville, carry with them a let’s-run moxie that others lose when lining up with UConn in a bracket.

— mike anthony, courant.com, "Rivalry Renewed: UConn And Notre Dame Set For Final Four Showdown Friday In Columbus," 30 Mar. 2018
For 14 minutes Thursday afternoon, before the gaze of some-40 reporters, Barkley mixed moxie with modesty.

— zak keefer, Indianapolis Star, "Insider: Can the Colts afford to pass on Saquon Barkley?," 1 Mar. 2018
However, few have the stage presence, songwriting skills and overall show business moxie as this Michigan native who Warner Brothers is banking on heavily in the next twelve months.

— chuck dauphin, Billboard, "15 Country Artists to Watch in 2018," 5 Jan. 2018
The big-boned Ohio city built by Eastern European immigrants and Midwestern moxie ripples with new cultural energy,'' the Cleveland entry begins.

— mary kay cabot, cleveland.com, "Jim Mora apparently thinks Cleveland is too blue-collar for Josh Rosen: Mary Kay Cabot," 27 Mar. 2018
As the tough and talented New Yorker, riveting newcomer Chanté Adams is the embodiment of outer-borough moxie.

— sheri linden, latimes.com, "1980s rap drama 'Roxanne Roxanne' crackles with power of sisterhood," 22 Mar. 2018
Self-help books like The 4-Hour Work Week — which posit the possibility of a radically different work-life balance, albeit based on individual moxie rather than social change — have become a popular genre.

— livia gershon, Longreads, "Seeking a Roadmap for the New American Middle Class," 21 Mar. 2018
Loyola's got the makeup and moxie of a team that can do more than bottom out in the Sweet 16.

— scott gleeson, USA TODAY, "March Madness: Five key takeaways from the NCAA tournament's first-round action Saturday," 18 Mar. 2018
THE POWER COUPLE Beyoncé is Houston-bred, but her songs have New York moxie.

— julie besonen, New York Times, "Future Lions of New York," 16 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'moxie.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Hot roasted peanuts! Fresh popcorn! Ice-cold Moxie! You might have heard such a snack vendor's cry at a baseball game-if you attended it in 1924. That was the heyday of the soft drink named Moxie, which some claim outsold Coca-Cola at the height of its popularity. The beverage was a favorite of American writer E. B. White, who wrote, "Moxie contains gentian root, which is the path to the good life. This was known in the second century before Christ and is a boon to me today." By 1930, moxie had become a slang term for nerve and verve, perhaps because some people thought the drink was a tonic that could cure virtually any ill and bring vim back to even the most lethargic individual.