Brio

Definition: enthusiasm, vigor

It’s historically Italian for “mettle”, “fire,” or “life.” As of today, it translates directly as “liveliness.”

Why I Looked It Up

In Kingmakers:

Two years later, departing on leave for England, Wilson with characteristic brio signed on as a coal stoker to save money and build his muscles during the voyage home.

In Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, Valerie Plame writes:

In a speech in early October 2002, President George Bush, said with typical brio…