Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or character of being sprightly; liveliness; life; briskness; vigor; activity; gaiety; vivacity.
  • noun Synonyms Life, Liveliness, etc. See animation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being sprightly; liveliness; life; briskness; vigor; activity; gayety; vivacity.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The property of being sprightly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun animation and energy in action or expression

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

sprightly +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • But nature has liberally supplied them with a fund of wit and sprightliness, which is certainly no small inducement to those, who have only transient glimpses of their charms, to wish very earnestly for a removal of those impediments, that obstruct their more frequent presence.

    Sketches of the Fair Sex, in All Parts of the World Anonymous

  • Many of her letters have been preserved, and show a sprightliness which is well borne out by her portrait, that of a charming old lady in a turban, with bright eyes and a humorous mouth.

    Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910 Maud Howe Elliott 1915

  • She was not without a certain kind of sprightliness that passed for intelligence; and she could by her adroitness of manoeuvre

    Autobiography of a female slave, 1857

  • This little sally may be considered as a specimen of that playful sprightliness which is so much the characteristic of the french female.

    The Stranger in France or, a Tour from Devonshire to Paris Illustrated by Engravings in Aqua Tint of Sketches Taken on the Spot. John Carr 1802

  • I suddenly feel a new sprightliness, quite unexpec ...

    Jean's Knitting Jean 2009

  • I suddenly feel a new sprightliness, quite unexpec ...

    Jean's Knitting Jean 2009

  • But he was very tentative, fastidiously so, letting Ruth set the pace of sprightliness and fancy, keeping up with her but never daring to go beyond her.

    Chapter 9 2010

  • I suddenly feel a new sprightliness, quite unexpec ...

    Archive 2009-08-01 Jean 2009

  • An omnivorous troubadour, he roves from Manchester libraries to Colombian villages to salvage musical traditions – with recordings that move from Berber beats to the raptures of a raga, from the thrilling stillness of an Armenian lament to the sprightliness of an Elizabethan galliard.

    In praise of … Jordi Savall | Editorial 2011

  • I suddenly feel a new sprightliness, quite unexpec ...

    Jean's Knitting Jean 2009

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