joie de vivre ˌzhwä-də-ˈvēvrᵊ noun
: a keen enjoyment of living
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The term joie de vivre has appeared in 23 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on July 10 in the Opinion essay “There’s a Specific Kind of Joy We’ve Been Missing” by Adam Grant:
We find our greatest bliss in moments of collective effervescence. It’s a concept coined in the early 20th century by the pioneering sociologist Émile Durkheim to describe the sense of energy and harmony people feel when they come together in a group around a shared purpose. Collective effervescence is the synchrony you feel when you slide into rhythm with strangers on a dance floor, colleagues in a brainstorming session, cousins at a religious service or teammates on a soccer field. And during this pandemic, it’s been largely absent from our lives.
Collective effervescence happens when joie de vivre spreads through a group. Before Covid, research showed that more than three-quarters of people found collective effervescence at least once a week and almost a third experienced it at least once a day. They felt it when they sang in choruses and ran in races, and in quieter moments of connection at coffee shops and in yoga classes.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word joie de vivre in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
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If you want a better idea of how joie de vivre can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
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