Joie de vivre means the extreme enjoyment of living, taking delight in simply being alive. Joie de vivre is a foreign phrase taken from the French language, it literally translates as joy of living. The phrase joie de vivre was first used in the French language in the late 1800s, the writer Émile Zola published a book entitled La Joie de Vivre in 1884. By the early 1900s the idea of living with a joie de vivre spread from France into other Western countries and the phrase joie de vivre entered the English language.
Examples
For all the spirit of defiance displayed during the recent wave of terrorist attacks, France has lost some of its celebrated joie de vivre. (The National)
“In all the characters I’ve played, I don’t think, except maybe for (American chef) Julia Child, I’ve ever played anybody with so much joie de vivre… She just soldiered on in spite of it all, and that was very touching to me,” Streep said. (The Christian Science Monitor)
There is much joie de vivre at the Kawant fair, a prominent tribal festival where Rathwas and Bhils congregate in the north-eastern part of Gujarat. (The Chandigarh Tribune)
Several hundred food fans gathered Thursday at the Ferry Building for the chance to bask in the joie de vivre of culinary legend Jacques Pepin . (The San Francisco Chronicle)
As an over-achiever in my mid-30s, setbacks in my career as a novelist had drained me of my joie de vivre. (The Guardian)
“She communicated in all that she did her joy of life — a joie de vivre that not only taught but inspired joy and confidence in young people.” (The Chicago Sun-Times)
This week she has wowed all as Goddess Lakshmi – in a Swachh Bharat campaign video that has great joie de vivre but also a sharp, useful sting. (The Times of India)