to lift one's spirits
- idiom
- If you are feeling sad and down in the dumps, try exercising to help lift your spirits.
- try to lift one's spirits
- help lift one's spirits
- way to lift one's spirits
Examples
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That always seems to lift your spirits!
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I'm trying to lift his spirits, but anything you could do, I'd really appreciate it.
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We need a song to lift our spirits.
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Ask him for something to lift your spirits.
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I thought it might lift your spirits.
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That ought to lift his spirits.
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How about a little song to lift our spirits?
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Well, I can think of something we can do that might lift your spirits.
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Seeing the contributions and positive messages has really lifted her spirits.
Blog text (20) -
We need a song to lift our spirits.
Synonyms
412
1.5
Help someone feel happier when they are sad or sick
248
1.0
To make someone feel happier
236
1.4
To feel happier after being sad or to make someone feel happier
125
3.4
To make people or a situation feel more cheerful
111
4.1
To become or make someone feel more cheerful and relaxed
90
3.7
To help someone become better off or more confident
85
1.0
Cause someone to feel happy or amused
64
3.2
To make someone feel happier and more hopeful
61
3.0
To give someone a lot of happiness, often by a small kind act
48
2.3
To make someone feel happy
25
6.3
To become or make someone more cheerful and confident
22
3.7
To make someone feel happier and more hopeful
22
2.7
Make a room or person more cheerful
17
3.9
To make someone feel happier when they are sad
15
7.0
Make someone feel happier and full of energy
14
5.5
Make someone feel happier or more confident
7
3.7
Make people feel more confident and positive
6
3.4
Help someone feel happier
1
5.3
To make someone feel more cheerful and confident
1
6.0
Help someone stop being sad and start smiling
1
8.2
To try to make someone feel happier when they are sad
1
9.9
Stay cheerful and hopeful during hard times
1
7.5
To make someone feel happy and warm inside
1
5.5
Make someone feel less sad and more cheerful
To make someone feel happier or more cheerful
To make someone feel happier or more lively
Antonyms
How Happy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to make someone feel happier' is directly and predictably derived from combining 'lift' (raise) with 'one's' (possessive) and 'spirits' (mood/energy). The metaphor of raising someone's mood is common across languages and follows transparent compositional logic that a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would understand.
Etymology
Lift one's spirits comes from a simple image: to lift is to raise something up, and spirits means a person's mood. So, imagining someone's mood being raised helps you remember it means 'to make someone feel happier'.