high-spirited

adjective

ˈhī-ˈspir-ə-təd How to pronounce high-spirited (audio)
Definition of high-spiritednext
1
as in joyful
joyously unrestrained a high-spirited crowd loudly cheering the basketball team on

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in spirited
marked by a lively display of strong feeling the band struck up a high-spirited march as the President's motorcade approached

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for high-spirited
  1. joyful
  2. spirited
  3. exuberant
  4. fiery
  5. lively
  6. spunky
  7. vivacious
  8. passionate
Adjective
  • Life that doesn’t just accept its sentence, but embraces it in joyful reverence?
    — Gabi Abrão, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Two of Kariem’s former students described him as joyful, patient and an inspiration.
    — Karina Tsui, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of joyful
Adjective
  • The painting, appearing at auction for the first time, prompted applause and a spirited contest involving Christie’s London specialist Edmond Francey and at least three other specialists bidding by telephone.
    — Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The ceremony was a warm, high-spirited event, with each jury member inviting one winner up on stage to ask them about their films and creative process.
    — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of spirited
Adjective
  • Even from the scant footage available in the trailer, Gerwig has taken a deliberately exuberant, psychedelic approach to the world of Narnia’s creation — and to the beauty of creation, generally.
    — Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 13 Oct. 2026
  • And in the event that someone wasn’t aware of what Children of Blood and Bone was, the panel did its job, promising an exuberant, swaggering epic with a charming cast to inhabit it.
    — Joshua Rivera, Vulture, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of exuberant
Adjective
  • Bongulo Paneer — cooked in bamboo, served with a coconut and capsicum poriyal that blends peanut chutney, acidic gongura sour cream and fiery gunpowder.
    — Heidi Finley, Charlotte Observer, 15 Oct. 2026
  • An 18-year-old Ida resident was killed after a fiery crash on Thursday morning in Monroe County, Michigan.
    — Paula Wethington, CBS News, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of fiery
Adjective
  • Einbinder and the staff writer Rachel Syme sit down for what’s sure to be a lively chat.
    — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Microsoft and Nvidia held a launch party for the first wave of RTX Spark laptops last week in San Francisco, where a new wave of AI PCs took center stage amid a packed crowd and a lively hands-on area.
    — Tom Warren, The Verge, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of lively
Adjective
  • Meanwhile, Susan was a spunky fan favorite on the inaugural Golden Bachelor season.
    — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Sep. 2026
  • The mop-haired actor plays Joey, a spunky boy onboard who bonds with Maddie over having absent parents in the military.
    — Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of spunky
Adjective
  • Tatyana and Jan’s salsa is full to the brim with salsa content, and yet the judges ding it for not being fast and vivacious enough, even though Jan’s choreography — some of my favorite of the night — was built around the song they were assigned.
    — Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 14 Oct. 2026
  • In a poetic blend of reality and imagination, a vivacious Brooklyn teenager strives to reclaim her own fleeting childhood while helping raise her four younger sisters.
    — Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of vivacious
Adjective
  • Fans were insanely passionate and regionally focused, and the game reflected that.
    — Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2026
  • Seeing what resonates with consumers and how that translates into numbers is something Fields has long been passionate about.
    — Colleen McKown, CNBC, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of passionate
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

high-speed
high-spirited
high-spiritedly
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Cite this Entry

“High-spirited.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/high-spirited. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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