cheerful

[cheer-fuhl]

adjective

1. full of cheer; in good spirits.

   a cheerful person.

   Synonyms: jolly, sunny, buoyant, joyous, joyful, happy, blithe, gay, cheery
   Antonyms: miserable

2. promoting or inducing cheer; pleasant; bright.

   cheerful surroundings.

3. characterized by or expressive of good spirits or cheerfulness.

   cheerful songs.

4. hearty or ungrudging.

   cheerful giving.

   Synonyms: generous
   Antonyms: grudging

cheerful

/ ˈtʃɪəfʊl /

adjective

1. having a happy disposition; in good spirits

2. pleasantly bright; gladdening

   a cheerful room

3. hearty; ungrudging; enthusiastic

   cheerful help

Other Word Forms

• cheerfully adverb
• cheerfulness noun
• quasi-cheerful adjective
• quasi-cheerfully adverb
• uncheerful adjective
• uncheerfully adverb
• uncheerfulness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cheerful¹

First recorded in 1400–50, cheerful is from the late Middle English word cherfull. See cheer, -ful

Example Sentences

At the Daiichi plant, the reactors were housed in six square buildings that had been painted a cheerful baby blue.

Read more on Literature

That abomination pops out of an unsettlingly cheerful woman whose husband swoops in to offer the hitchhiking boy a ride.

Read more on Salon

That those infected are compulsively helpful and blandly cheerful, like cult members asking you to “a party,” is no less, if not more, disturbing.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Ordinarily, the Dawn Truce was a cheerful occasion, but on this day they had very serious matters to discuss.

Read more on Literature

Despite being seen "as quite a cheerful man" by some, "he is a man who has been very alone -- very much torn between his family and Franco since his earliest childhood."

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• animated 
• bright 
• buoyant 
• cheery 
• chipper 
• chirpy 
• effervescent 
• enthusiastic 
• good-natured 
• happy 
• jaunty 
• jolly 
• joyful 
• lighthearted 
• lively 
• merry 
• optimistic 
• peppy 
• perky 
• pleasant