enthusiastic
- 01 C2 Proficiency
relating to a feeling of being controlled by a god or spirit.
pertaining to or caused by religious ecstasy or divine inspiration. This sense is largely restricted to historical or theological contexts.
Simple“The ancient text described the priest's enthusiastic state during the ceremony.”
In context“Scholars often debate whether the poet's enthusiastic utterances were a literary device or a reflection of genuine mystical experience.”
UsageIn modern English, this sense is almost entirely replaced by 'ecstatic' or 'inspired' outside of academic history.
Teacher's tipThis sense is archaic; learners should use 'enthusiastic' only to mean 'excited' in modern conversation.
“Juha Kahila, Y-Foundation’s head of international affairs, is enthusiastic about what has already been achieved.”
“So, thanks to my time in the scanner, I am now far more enthusiastic about lathering sunscreen all over my body - rather than only on my face.”
From Ancient Greek ἐνθουσιαστικός (enthousiastikós), from either ἐνθουσιασμός (enthousiasmós) or ἐνθουσιάζω (enthousiázō) + -τικός (-tikós).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.