as in zeal
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Recent Examples of élan
But these artists skillfully infuse every note with passion and gritty elan.
—
George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Dec. 2025
Schwartzman, though, is comic gold as an inappropriate inlaw while Sessa brightens things up as a broken-hearted sop who insinuates himself with all the elan of a Lab puppy into the neighbor’s next door household.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 3 Dec. 2025
Khrushchev sought to revive revolutionary elan and push the USSR to the final stage of history, the transition from socialism to communism, during which the state apparatus would finally wither away.
—Benjamin Nathans
september 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
Carter and Air Mail crafted the idea for the prize, which will be awarded to one fiction writer and one nonfiction scribe whose work embodies Wolfe’s imaginative, precise and literary elan.
—Rosemary Feitelberg, Footwear News, 24 June 2025
The rule at these gatherings is to move with a semblance of elan.
—Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 16 May 2025
Rice’s second was struck with such elan that even a gargantuan goalkeeper of Thibaut Courtois’ stature and reach could not get anywhere near.
—Amy Lawrence, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2025
Trending on Billboard What comes next is a clinic in classic Jackson, with the singer popping, locking and skittering across the club’s floor while executing some of his signature spins and fancy footwork while breaking hearts and deftly dispatching would-be assassins with his signature elan.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 30 Oct. 2024
The Orioles have adeptly selected their times to be aggressive on the bases
After more than three hours of tense back and forth Wednesday night in the Bronx, the Orioles finished the Yankees not with their trademark power but with base running elan.
—Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 21 June 2024
George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Dec. 2025
Schwartzman, though, is comic gold as an inappropriate inlaw while Sessa brightens things up as a broken-hearted sop who insinuates himself with all the elan of a Lab puppy into the neighbor’s next door household.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 3 Dec. 2025
Khrushchev sought to revive revolutionary elan and push the USSR to the final stage of history, the transition from socialism to communism, during which the state apparatus would finally wither away.
—Benjamin Nathans
september 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
Carter and Air Mail crafted the idea for the prize, which will be awarded to one fiction writer and one nonfiction scribe whose work embodies Wolfe’s imaginative, precise and literary elan.
—Rosemary Feitelberg, Footwear News, 24 June 2025
The rule at these gatherings is to move with a semblance of elan.
—Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 16 May 2025
Rice’s second was struck with such elan that even a gargantuan goalkeeper of Thibaut Courtois’ stature and reach could not get anywhere near.
—Amy Lawrence, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2025
Trending on Billboard What comes next is a clinic in classic Jackson, with the singer popping, locking and skittering across the club’s floor while executing some of his signature spins and fancy footwork while breaking hearts and deftly dispatching would-be assassins with his signature elan.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 30 Oct. 2024
The Orioles have adeptly selected their times to be aggressive on the bases
After more than three hours of tense back and forth Wednesday night in the Bronx, the Orioles finished the Yankees not with their trademark power but with base running elan.
—Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 21 June 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for élan
Noun
-
The men in the cast – Ben Jacoby and Brent Thiessen – are suitably smarmy in their stick-thin roles, with the supporting adult actresses – Sarah Bockel and Lael Van Keuren – playing the mothers with caricature zeal.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
22 Apr. 2026
-
Her older brothers, 20-year-old twins, helped form her competitive zeal and desire to excel.—
Patrick Z. McGavin,
Chicago Tribune,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
For those who have been advocating for more telework protections since 2024, their fervor hasn’t diminished.—
William Melhado,
Sacbee.com,
23 Apr. 2026
-
And there was such a fervor in the crowd about it.—
Ava Pukatch,
NPR,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
His movies exude eagerness, energy, verve in storytelling, and unmitigated confidence in the emotional power of the cinema itself.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Another entry in our recent deluge of ironic gorefests, Over Your Dead Body doesn’t really give us anything new, although for its first half at least, the picture gets by on some verve and a modicum of intelligence.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
They are delivered with a confident brio, though the author is careful to enter caveats.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
-
His roots on the island of Ischia mean that Umbria’s meaty, carb-heavy traditions are tempered by southern lightness and brio.—
Lee Marshall,
Condé Nast Traveler,
14 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
But, after the couple retired and migrated south to Mexico City, Hurst dove back into photography with gusto, until his death, from cancer, in 2023.—
Chris Wiley,
New Yorker,
28 Apr. 2026
-
In his text, Andreessen—who founded Netscape, the first commercial browser company, in the 1990s—frames technological progress as a moral good, a struggle in which, the manifesto claims with modernist gusto, beauty and progress are fused.—
Simon Denny,
Artforum,
20 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
During all winters, conifers need occasional watering when the ground is not frozen to maintain plant vigor and to keep their needles intact.—
Special to The Denver Post,
Denver Post,
1 May 2026
-
Divide spring-blooming bulbs to restore vigor, prevent overcrowding, and increase flowering.—
Andy Wilcox,
Better Homes & Gardens,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
After an early-morning session with the hens, a gobbler’s ardor may rise again at midday.—
Bruce Brady,
Outdoor Life,
8 Apr. 2026
-
But my ardor for Jake Skeets’s brilliant first book begins with the violence and beauty corralled on its front cover.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
1 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Tourism businesses also affect the vitality of the places that underwrite their profits, and these profit-seeking ventures vary widely in terms of their self-awareness and willingness to ensure that their operations do more good than harm.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
1 May 2026
-
The reader feels the moment’s vitality and presence, and the sorrow at its loss, but not because Ford insists on it.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
30 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“élan.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/%C3%A9lan. Accessed 3 May. 2026.
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