Enthusiasm

(-zĭ-ăzm), n. [Fr. enthousiasme, Gr. ἐνθουσιασμός, from ἐνθουσιάζειν, to be inspired or possessed by the god, from ἔνθεος, contracted ἔνθους. See ENTHEAL.] 1. Inspiration as if by a divine or superhuman power; possession by a higher influence; rapture; ecstasy; hence, a conceit of divine possession and revelation; also, extravagant hope and expectation. Enthusiasm is founded neither on reason nor divine revelation, but rises from the conceits of a warmed or overweening imagination. Locke. 2. Complete possession of the mind and energies by a cause, subject, passion, fancy, or the like: ardent and imaginative zeal or interest; mental excitement in the pursuit of an object; enkindled and kindling fervor of soul; predominance of the emotional over the intellectual powers; intense and unregulated excitement of feeling; fanatical passion. Enthusiasm is that temper of mind in which the imagination has got the better of the judgment. Warburton. Exhibiting the seeming contradiction of susceptibility to enthusiasm and calculating shrewdness. Bancroft. Syn.—ENTHUSIASM, FANATICISM. Enthusiasm was formerly used for heat of imagination, especially in religion; but this sense is now more commonly confined to fanaticism, which denotes wild and extravagant notions on this subject, often leading to the most dangerous delusions. The term fanaticism is also sometimes extended to other subjects besides religion. The enthusiasm of genius; enthusiastic attachment to the fine arts. The fanaticism of opposing religious sects. “Fanaticism is to superstition what rage is to anger.” Voltaire.