élan

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "elan"

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from French élan.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /eɪˈlɑːn/, /eɪˈlæn/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɑːn, -æn

Noun

élan (countable and uncountable, plural élans)

  1. Spirit; zeal; ardor.
    • 1916, Booth Tarkington, Penrod and Sam, page 197:
      Sam, carried away by the élan of the performance, was unable to resist joining them.
    • 1971, Deborah S. Davis, “The Cultural Revolution in Wuhan”, in The Cultural Revolution in the Provinces‎, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 159:
      The goal of the Cultural Revolution was to radicalize the whole society, to create mass participation at all levels of decision-making, and to restore the revolutionary élan of the 1940s.
    • 2012 March 4, Alice Rawsthorn, “Farewell, Pocket Calculator?”, in The New York Times‎:
      A pocket calculator was the closest that most 1970s consumers came to owning anything with computational power, even if all it could do was basic math. Those tiny gizmos seemed enticing because they offered rare glimpses into the enigmatic world of technology, and the Sinclair Executive also had the élan of being the first one.

Usage notes

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Deverbal from élancer.

Noun

élan m (plural élans)

  1. spirit
  2. momentum
    Il prend son élan. ― He is gaining momentum.
  3. (sports) run up
Derived terms
Descendants
  • → English: élan
  • → German: Elan
  • → Portuguese: elã, élan
  • → Romanian: elan

Etymology 2

From a Baltic language.

Noun

élan m (plural élans)

  1. moose, elk

Further reading

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French élan.

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: é‧lan

Noun

élan m (plural élans)

  1. Alternative form of elã

References

  1. ^ “élan” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
  2. ^ “élan” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.
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