brio
noun

- energy and confidence

- vigour or vivacity of style or performance

- enthusiastic vigor

Cambridge Dictionary / Oxford Languages / Merriam-Webster

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WORD ORIGIN

“Brio” meaning “liveliness, vivacity”, is evidenced from 1734 and derives from Italian brio meaning ”mettle, fire, life”, … perhaps a shortened derivative of Latin ebrius "drunk”.

Probably it entered English via the musical instruction con brio which encourages a lively and spirited interpretation of the music.

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ENERGETIC IDIOMS

- bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (lively, energetic) - "The kids were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for their first day of camp."

- breathing fire (passionate, feisty) - "The lawyer was breathing fire as she made her closing arguments."

- grab the bull by the horns (bold, brave) - "It was time to grab the bull by the horns and ask for a raise."

- gung-ho (overly enthusiastic) - "The new recruits were a bit too gung-ho in the beginning."

- have a spring in one's step (spirited, bouncy) - "After getting that promotion, he had a real spring in his step."

- have gumption (spirited, moxie) - "You've got to have gumption to start your own business."

- keen as mustard (enthusiastic, eager) - "I'm keen as mustard to go on that hiking trip."

- live wire (lively, spirited) - "Grandma may be 80 but she's still a real live wire!"

- packed a punch (vigorous, powerful) - "That workout really packed a punch!"

- raring to go (eager, enthusiastic) - "After the long break, I was raring to go and get back to work."

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SELECTED SYNONYMS

animation, ardour, bounce, bravura, BRIO, ebullience, éclat, effervescence, exuberance, feistiness, fire in the belly, fizz, full of beans (of life), get-up-and-go, ginger, gusto, jauntiness, lustiness, mettle, moxie, panache, pepper, pizazz, sinew, spunk, sprightliness, verve, vim, zing, zip, zest

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“Congratulations — you made that presentation with real BRIO.”

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