Meaning & use
effervescent
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Containing or giving off small bubbles of gas; fizzy.
Grammar: Usually describes drinks or liquids and is not normally used with 'more' or 'most'.
Patterns
- effervescent drink
- effervescent tablet
- effervescent liquid
She prefers effervescent water to still water.
Dissolve one effervescent tablet in a glass of cold water.
The mixture became effervescent as soon as the two chemicals touched.
adjectivecomparablefigurative
Lively, cheerful, and full of energy.
Grammar: Used of people or their manner; comparative forms such as 'more effervescent' are possible but not common.
Patterns
- an effervescent personality
- effervescent with excitement
- in an effervescent mood
He has an effervescent personality that makes him popular with clients.
The children were effervescent with excitement on the last day of school.
Her effervescent humor kept the long meeting from feeling dull.
Word forms
| comparative | more effervescent |
|---|---|
| superlative | most effervescent |
Common combinations
- effervescent personality
- Her effervescent personality lights up every room she enters.
- effervescent tablet
- Take one effervescent tablet dissolved in water each morning.
- effervescent wine
- Effervescent wines are served cold in tall glasses.
- effervescent with joy
- The whole team was effervescent with joy after the final whistle.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fizzy
- Fizzy is the everyday word for drinks with bubbles; effervescent is more formal and also has the lively-person meaning.
- sparkling
- Sparkling often describes wine or water and can suggest brightness; effervescent is more scientific or formal.
- vivacious
- Vivacious describes a lively person, especially a woman, but it cannot describe a bubbling liquid.
- bubbly
- Bubbly is informal for both fizzy drinks and cheerful people; effervescent is the more formal choice.
Opposites
Word family
- effervescence noun
- The process of bubbling, or a lively quality.
- effervesce verb
- To give off bubbles of gas.
Commonly confused: effervescent or efflorescent? effervescent or fluorescent?
effervescent vs efflorescent
Efflorescent means flowering or turning to powder on the surface; it is not about bubbles.
effervescent vs fluorescent
Fluorescent means giving off light, as in a fluorescent lamp, and is not related to fizzing.
Practice
The doctor told him to take the medicine as an ___ tablet in water.
Choose one answer.
An adjective is needed before the noun 'tablet', so 'effervescent' is correct. 'Effervescence' is a noun, 'effervescently' is an adverb, and 'effervesce' is a verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “effervescent”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.