Word Study
elan
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun elan has 3 senses
- elan(n = noun.feeling) ardor, ardour, zeal - a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause); "they were imbued with a revolutionary ardor"; "he felt a kind of religious zeal" is a kind of avidity, avidness, eagerness, keenness
- elan(n = noun.attribute) dash, flair, panache, style - distinctive and stylish elegance; "he wooed her with the confident dash of a cavalry officer" is a kind of elegance
- elan(n = noun.attribute) Array - enthusiastic and assured vigor and liveliness; "a performance of great elan and sophistication" is a kind of life, liveliness, spirit, sprightliness
THESAURUS
elan
activity, alacrity, animal spirits, animation, anxiety, anxiousness, appetite, ardor, avidity, avidness, breathless impatience, brio, briskness, capersomeness, cheerful readiness, coltishness, dash, eagerness, enthusiasm, esprit, exuberance, forwardness, friskiness, frolicsomeness, gaiety, gamesomeness, gayness, glow, gust, gusto, heartiness, impatience, impetuosity, impetus, joie de vivre, keen desire, keenness, life, liveliness, lustiness, mettle, oomph, perkiness, pertness, piss and vinegar, playfulness, promptness, quickness, readiness, robustness, rollicksomeness, rompishness, skittishness, spirit, spiritedness, spirits, sportiveness, sprightliness, verve, vigor, vim, vitality, vivacity, warmth, zest, zestfulness, zing, zipROGET THESAURUS
elan
Impulse
N impulse, sudden thought, impromptu, improvisation, inspiration, flash, spurt, improvisatore, creature of impulse, extemporaneous, impulsive, indeliberate, snap, improvised, improvisate, improvisatory, unpremeditated, unmeditated, improvise, unprompted, unguided, natural, unguarded, spontaneous, instinctive, extempore, extemporaneously, offhand, impromptu, a limproviste, improviso, on the spur of the moment, on the spur of the occasion, impulse, impulsion, impetus, momentum, push, pulsion, thrust, shove, jog, jolt, brunt, booming, boost, throw, explosion, propulsion, percussion, concussion, collision, occursion, clash, encounter, cannon, carambole, appulse, shock, crash, bump, impact, elan, charge, beating, blow, dint, stroke, knock, tap, rap, slap, smack, pat, dab, fillip, slam, bang, hit, whack, thwack, cuff, squash, dowse, swap, whap, punch, thump, pelt, kick, punce, calcitration, ruade, arietation, cut, thrust, lunge, yerk, carom, carrom, clip, jab, plug, sidewinder, sidewipe, sideswipe, hammer, sledge hammer, mall, maul, mallet, flail, ram, rammer, battering ram, monkey, pile-driving engine, punch, bat, cant hook, cudgel, ax, dynamics, seismometer, accelerometer, earthquake detector, impelling, impulsive, impellent, booming, dynamic, dynamical, impelled, a hit, a very palpable hit.
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