jollity
Americannoun
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jolly or merry mood, condition, or activity; gaiety.
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jollities, jolly festivities.
noun
Synonym Usage
See mirth.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of jollity
1250–1300; Middle English jolite, from Old French, equivalent to joli(f) “gay” ( see jolly) + -te -ty 2
Explanation
Use the noun jollity to describe having fun and being in an extremely good mood, like the jollity you feel when you are with your best friends at your favorite amusement park. You can see the word jolly in jollity and that is a big clue that it means "full of cheer and good will." We might say that Jolly Old Saint Nicholas — Santa Claus — is the king of jollity. But you can join his court — you are the picture of jollity when you are laughing uncontrollably with good friends or whooping it up at a Country Western dance. We are talking mirth and merriment: that's jollity.
Vocabulary lists containing jollity
100 SAT Words Beginning with "J," "K," and "L"
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 11
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To promote means to cheat anyone "of a dollar, or any fraction or multiple thereof." and the essence of praise in the Jollity Building is, "he has promoted some very smart people."
From Time Magazine Archive
Some leading Jollity Building denizens: �Acid Test Ike, who manages punch-drunk fighters.
From Time Magazine Archive
Jollity, or exhilaration, is entirely a social thing.
From The Recreations of a Country Parson by Boyd, Andrew Kennedy Hutchison
Who, for instance, would have expected cranks, nods, becks, and wreathèd smiles as part of a group in which Jest, Jollity, Sport, and Laughter figure away as full-formed entire Personages?
From An English Garner Critical Essays & Literary Fragments by Arber, Thomas Seccombe, Professor
Here shall you see how Fellowship and Jollity, Both Strength, Pleasure, and Beauty, Will fade from thee as flower in May.
From "Everyman," with other interludes, including eight miracle plays by Rhys, Ernest
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
