spirit

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA ^(key): /ˈspɪrɪt/
• (US) IPA ^(key): /ˈspirɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: spir‧it

Noun

Singular spirit

Plural spirits

1. (countable) A spirit is a being that has no physical body, and cannot usually be seen or touched.

   The people on the island believed in many gods and spirits that affected life.

2. (countable) A spirit is a part of you that cannot be seen or touched. Often this is important to religion and different from the soul (religions do not agree what the difference is).

   They tried to talk to the spirit of their dead mother through a medium.

   The preacher claimed the soul was the mind but the spirit was something more special.

3. (uncountable) If you have spirit, you are very excited about something or a very strong supporter.

   People with school spirit always cheer for their schools team.

4. (uncountable) The spirit of a statement or rule is the idea or purpose for it.

   What she did fit the spirit of the law, even though it brought the law as it was written.

   In the spirit of fairness I let the younger children break some rules.

   The spirit of the agreement was that we would have equal shares.

5. (countable & uncountable) ; (usually plural) A spirit is a volatile liquid, like alcohol.

Related words

• soul
• spiritless
• spiritlike
• spiritual
• spirituality

Verb

Plain form spirit

Third-person singular spirits

Past tense spirited

Past participle spirited

Present participle spiriting

1. If you spirit something, you carry it away, usually in secret or mystery.

Proper noun

Proper noun the Spirit

1. (Christianity) Another name for the Holy Spirit (also called the Holy Ghost).

This section needs someone to add example sentences to it.