spirit
part of speech
noun (a spirit, spirits; spirit, uncountable); verb (spirit away)
meaning for a pupil
1) The part of a person that is their feelings and character, not their body; some believe it lives on after death. tree →
2) A ghost or magical being. tree →
3) Courage, energy and determination: team spirit. tree →
4) (plural) Your mood: in high spirits. tree →
5) Strong alcoholic drink such as whisky (spirits). tree →
6) The real meaning of a rule: the spirit of the law. tree →
7) (verb) «Spirit away» means take someone or something away secretly. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories, spirits and ghosts; in PSHE and sport, team spirit and school spirit. In everyday life, «in good spirits» means happy. In science, white spirit or methylated spirits are liquids for cleaning. Phrases: team spirit, in high spirits, that's the spirit!, Christmas spirit.
examples
- The team showed great spirit. tree →
- Everyone was in high spirits after the win. tree →
- The story was about a spirit in an old house. tree →
- That's the spirit! Keep going! tree →
- We got into the Christmas spirit. tree →
- The thief was spirited away in the night. tree →
- Spirits like whisky are strong alcohol. tree →
- It was not a spirit this time. tree →
note
Countable for ghosts and drinks; uncountable for courage. Adjectives: spiritual (about beliefs), spirited (lively). «Spirits» about mood is always plural: in low spirits.
In the corpora
- Bon Odori is a calm circle dance at Japan's summer Obon festival, which honours the spirits of ancestors.
- I like your spirit.» Toad starts slowly and carefully, and the gentlemen clap: fancy a washerwoman driving so well!
- I like your spirit.
- "Free spirit" said about a child means one who does not follow rules.
- A glass or pointer on a spirit board moves because of tiny movements people make without knowing it, called the ideomotor effect.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «spirit» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.