FLOURISH

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does flourish mean? 

• FLOURISH (noun)
  The noun FLOURISH has 5 senses:

1. a showy gesture

2. an ornamental embellishment in writing

3. a display of ornamental speech or language

4. the act of waving

5. (music) a short lively tune played on brass instruments

  Familiarity information: FLOURISH used as a noun is common.

• FLOURISH (verb)
  The verb FLOURISH has 3 senses:

1. grow vigorously

2. make steady progress; be at the high point in one's career or reach a high point in historical significance or importance

3. move or swing back and forth

  Familiarity information: FLOURISH used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLOURISH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A showy gesture

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

she entered with a great flourish

Hypernyms ("flourish" is a kind of...):

gesture; motion (the use of movements (especially of the hands) to communicate familiar or prearranged signals)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An ornamental embellishment in writing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("flourish" is a kind of...):

embellishment (a superfluous ornament)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flourish"):

paraph (a flourish added after or under your signature (originally to protect against forgery))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A display of ornamental speech or language

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("flourish" is a kind of...):

grandiloquence; grandiosity; magniloquence; ornateness; rhetoric (high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The act of waving

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

brandish; flourish

Hypernyms ("flourish" is a kind of...):

wafture; wave; waving (the act of signaling by a movement of the hand)

Derivation:

flourish (move or swing back and forth)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(music) a short lively tune played on brass instruments

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

fanfare; flourish; tucket

Context example:

her arrival was greeted with a rousing fanfare

Hypernyms ("flourish" is a kind of...):

air; line; melodic line; melodic phrase; melody; strain; tune (a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence)

Domain category:

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

• FLOURISH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they flourish    ... he / she / it flourishes   
Past simple: flourished   
Past participle: flourished   
-ing form: flourishing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Grow vigorously

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

boom; expand; flourish; thrive

Context example:

business is booming

Hypernyms (to "flourish" is one way to...):

grow (become larger, greater, or bigger; expand or gain)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "flourish"):

revive (be brought back to life, consciousness, or strength)

luxuriate (thrive profusely or flourish extensively)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

The business is going to flourish

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make steady progress; be at the high point in one's career or reach a high point in historical significance or importance

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

flourish; fly high; prosper; thrive

Context example:

The new student is thriving

Hypernyms (to "flourish" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

Move or swing back and forth

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

brandish; flourish; wave

Context example:

She waved her gun

Hypernyms (to "flourish" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

"Flourish" entails doing...:

hold; take hold (have or hold in one's hands or grip)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "flourish"):

wigwag (send a signal by waving a flag or a light according to a certain code)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

flourish (the act of waving)

 Context examples 

The Kanaka leaped backward to his bunk, to return with a second leap, flourishing a long knife.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I had confidence, however, in my own youth and energy, and was convinced that in a very few years the concern would be as flourishing as ever.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"The reward of merit for a magnanimous March," as Laurie announced with a flourish.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Human kindness was like a sun shining upon him, and he flourished like a flower planted in good soil.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I admire them much more if they are tall, straight, and flourishing.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

But he cannot flourish without this diet; he eat not as others.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The normal human gut microbiome is a flourishing community of microorganisms, some of which can affect the human immune system.

(Disrupting the gut microbiome may affect some immune responses to flu vaccination, National Institutes of Health)

One of his most intimate friends was a merchant who, from a flourishing state, fell, through numerous mischances, into poverty.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

So mosses and other plants flourish in these lakes, leading to carbon uptake rates that are among the highest in the world, even compared to carbon-rich peatlands.

(Certain Arctic lakes store more greenhouse gases than they release, NSF)

Alleyne gave his staff a merry flourish, however, and the red deer bethought him that the King was far off, so streaked away from whence he came.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)