viva

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   chiefly British: an oral examination, especially one for an academic degree

   She defended her doctoral thesis in a two-hour viva.

2. 2
   intj

   long live; a cry expressing support, acclaim, or celebration

   Viva the new republic! the crowd shouted.

3. 3
   adj

   Latin: living, occurring in learned expressions such as vis viva, ‘living force’

   Early mechanics used the term vis viva for a quantity related to kinetic energy.

The examination sense shortens Latin viva voce ("with the living voice"). The acclamation comes through Italian and Spanish viva ("may he, she, or it live"). Learned phrases such as vis viva preserve the Latin feminine adjective viva, "living."

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