euphoria
Americannoun
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euphorias
plural
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a state of intense happiness and self-confidence.
She was flooded with euphoria as she went to the podium to receive her Student Research Award.
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Psychology. a feeling of happiness, confidence, or well-being sometimes exaggerated in pathological states as mania.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of euphoria
First recorded in 1880–85; from New Latin, from Greek euphoría “state of well-being”; see eu-, -phore, -ia
Explanation
Use euphoria to describe a feeling of great happiness and well-being, but know that euphoria often more than that––it's unusually, crazy happy, over the top. Euphoria can even be classified as a mental illness. The earliest use of euphoria was to describe the relief provided by a medical procedure. The word was borrowed from New Latin, from the Greek word meaning "ability to bear easily, fertility," from euphoros "healthy," from the prefix eu- "good, well" plus pherein "to bear."
Vocabulary lists containing euphoria
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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.
See Examples For:
Prime Minister Balendra Shah, the 36-year-old former Kathmandu mayor widely known as "Balen", won March elections on a wave of euphoria and promises of political change.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
“We drive these roads for the excitement and euphoria, just like people go to Disneyland,” says Matt Kometer, a SkyLink supervisor from San Pedro who drives a 2026 Mazda MX-5 Miata.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
The sell-off came after tech shares had soared for months, "generating the extreme euphoria" that has moved some personal investors to take out loans to invest, says investment analyst Tobias Reger.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
“People oscillate between euphoria, depression, anger and hatred,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
He kissed me and I felt actual euphoria, like all my senses had merged and I was reduced to breaths and heartbeats and repeating integers.
From "A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi
He had a lifelong loathing of strident nationalists and ethnic divides, of what he called, in one essay, “so-called great leaders and the collective euphorias they excite.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2023
This was a simple gesture, but it helped conjure the vague euphorias of clubland, where the music can feel like a nonstop mystery transmission in an anonymous darkness.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 23, 2020
He developed an innate loathing of strident nationalists, of ethnic divides, of “so-called great leaders and the collective euphorias they excite.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2015
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.
