Liven

//ˈlaɪvən// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To cause to be more lively, or to become more lively. ambitransitive

    "Let's liven up this party!"

  2. 2
    plural simple present of live form-of, obsolete, plural, present

    "We liven in fear, but we wot not whither to flee for to be better than we arn here."

  3. 3
    make lively wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
animateenlivenenliveninvigorateliven upactivate

Example

More examples

"A resident uses pot lids to play cymbals as she takes part in a music flash mob called "Look out from the window, Rome mine!" The event sought to liven up the city's silence during the coronavirus lockdown."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Partly from life + -en; partly from live (adjective) + -en; and partly a shortening of enliven. Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk livna (“to quicken, come alive”), Faroese livna (“to come to life, come alive”), Icelandic lifna (“to come to life”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English liven, equivalent to live + -en.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.