viva

C2 Topic:Education & Learning

noun /ˈvaɪvə/ intj /ˈviːvə/ adj /ˈviːvə/ See IPA manual

Freq #11522

Meanings

1

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

US /ˈvaɪvə/ UK /ˈvaɪvə/

She defended her doctoral thesis in a two-hour viva.
2

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

US /ˈviːvə/ UK /ˈviːvə/

Viva the new republic! the crowd shouted.
3

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

US /ˈviːvə/ UK /ˈviːvə/

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

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · chiefly british: an oral... oral examinationviva voce

2 intj · long live; a cry expressing... long livehurrah

3 adj · latin: living, occurring in... living

Word family

Forms vivaedvivas

Derived forms vivasvivaed

Related forms voice vivacious vitalvis viva

Etymology

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."

Topics

Education & Learning Register & Style

External links

# viva

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun, intj, adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈvaɪvə/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈvaɪvə/
**Frequency rank:** 11522

## Meanings
1. chiefly British: an oral examination, especially one for an academic degree
2. long live; a cry expressing support, acclaim, or celebration
3. Latin: living, occurring in learned expressions such as vis viva, ‘living force’

## Examples
- She defended her doctoral thesis in a two-hour viva.
- Viva the new republic! the crowd shouted.
- Early mechanics used the term vis viva for a quantity related to kinetic energy.

## Synonyms
- oral examination
- viva voce
- long live
- hurrah

## Derived Forms
- vivas
- vivaed

## Related Forms
- voice
- vivacious
- vital
- vis viva

## Etymology
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."

## Topics
- Education & Learning
- Register & Style

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