flourish

Formsflourishes, flourishing, flourished

Pluralflourishes

1. 1
   verbintransitive

   To grow strongly and in good health; to thrive.

   Coral reefs flourish in warm, shallow waters with plenty of sunlight.

   The young company flourished once it found a loyal market.

   Similarthrive, prosper, bloom, blossom, burgeon

   Oppositewither, languish, decline

   Note

   The root sense, and a botanical one at heart: the word comes through Old French florir from Latin flōrem, "flower," so to flourish was first to blossom. It suits plants and crops naturally. Barley flourishes in warm weather, and Joseph C. Lincoln's new grass flourishes "everywheres" in early June. The figurative uses for towns, careers and movements all borrow that picture of healthy growth.

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To prosper; to do well in one's affairs or circumstances.

   Families flourish when they have stable work and good schools.

   The trading port flourished for centuries along the spice route.

   Similarprosper, thrive, succeed, boom

   Oppositestruggle, decline, languish

   Note

   Fortune rather than growth is the point here, so the subject can be a town, a firm or a college. Anthony à Wood, in 1792, says an Oxford hall flourished "though in its buildings decayed." It did well while its fabric crumbled. Robert Nelson (1795) pairs the verb with its closest neighbor, "prosper and flourish," a doublet that shows how nearly the two words overlap.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To make bold, sweeping movements with something held in the hand.

   The conductor flourished his baton to bring in the brass.

   Magicians flourish a silk handkerchief to distract the audience.

   Similarwave, brandish, swing

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A showy, dramatic gesture, such as a sweeping wave of the hand or a flag.

   With a flourish, the magician pulled the rabbit from the hat.

   The waiter presented the dish with a theatrical flourish.

   Similargesture, wave, sweep

   Note

   Often the gesture that finishes something with style, hence the set phrase with a flourish. Melville stretches it to manner in Moby-Dick: Cato falls on his sword "with a philosophical flourish," while Ishmael quietly takes to the ship. Sportswriting uses it for a decisive, showy act. Phil McNulty, in 2023, calls a solo goal "a flourish that eased any late nerves."

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A decorative addition or embellishment.

   The designer's signature is a curling flourish in each corner.

   Her handwriting is full of loops and flourishes.

   Similarembellishment, curlicue, ornament, decoration, swirl

   Note

   Ornament as something extra, which can be admired or mocked. A signature that ends with a flourish is a small vanity. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, though, "brevity is the soul of wit" while tediousness is "the limbs and outward flourishes," decoration without substance. On paper it often means the looping stroke made by the penmanship verb.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To cause to develop, thrive, or expand.

   Wise investment can flourish a modest business within a few years.

   The mild climate flourished the colony's farms for generations.

   Similarfoster, nurture, boost

   Note

   A causative use, where something is made to grow rather than growing on its own. Francis Bacon pictures his argument as thread wound tight, which "with a good Needle (perhaps) may be flourished into large Works." The construction is flourish something into something, and the image sits halfway between growth and ornament. Contrast the plain "thrive" sense, where the subject does the growing itself.

7. 7
   verbintransitive

   To be in the period when one's influence is at its greatest.

   Scholars disagree about when the movement began to flourish, but its influence clearly peaked in the 1920s.

   The composer flourished during the height of the Romantic era.

   Similarthrive

   Oppositewane, decline

8. 8
   verbintransitive

   To move in a bold, sweeping, showy manner, as a display of ornament or bravado.

   The fencers flourish and feint before the bout truly begins.

   Banners flourished in the wind above the marching parade.

   Similarwave

   Note

   Here the movement belongs to the subject itself, and nothing is being waved. Alexander Pope, in The Dunciad (1728), lets a stream do it: "Impetuous spread the stream, and smoking flourished o'er his head." This freedom with inanimate subjects, such as water or banners in a wind, separates it from the transitive waving sense, where someone flourishes a thing held in the hand.

9. 9
   verbtransitive

   To adorn or embellish with showy figures, ornament, or rhetoric.

   The scribe flourished the manuscript's margins with intricate gold patterns.

   Speakers often flourish their arguments with vivid metaphors.

   Similaradorn, embellish, decorate, ornament

   Note

   Ornament can disguise as well as beautify, and Shakespeare uses the word that way in Measure for Measure. There, the justice of a claim "doth flourish the deceit," dressing a trick in respectable colors. Elijah Fenton (1716) keeps the gentler, painterly use, with groves "with shadowy verdure flourish'd high." That line recalls the flower behind the "thrive" sense.

10. 10
    nouncountable

    A short, ceremonious musical passage, such as a trumpet fanfare.

    The orchestra opened with a brassy flourish before the anthem.

    Each royal entrance was marked by a flourish from the heralds.

    Similarfanfare

    Note

    A musical term that pairs naturally with brass: trumpets blow or sound a flourish, and a flourish of trumpets is the classic phrase. Percival Frost's 1872 edition of Tacitus's Annals turns it figurative. There, a commander's campaigns are "announced with a flourish of trumpets," which means loudly advertised, whether or not any music plays.

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