Definition of "brio" [brio]

• Vigor; vivacity: "She tells their story with brio and a mixture of sympathy and tart insight” ( Michiko Kakutani). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "What do you make of a guy who claims the Italian word 'brio' is no longer used in Italy but only in the English language?"
• "“Santa Monica cocktail parties” gets the job done, but his usual brio is lacking, much like a worn-out band performing a medley of hit songs from 40 years ago."
• "Paul Desenne, mixed Gallic suavity and Latin American brio for a chameleonic dash through various subdivisions of a nine-beat bar."