euphoria
Americannoun
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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:
One music journalist told us it was the "perfect football song" with its melodious mix of "euphoria and melancholy".
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
While few assets have escaped the current euphoria, the S&P 400 has risen considerably less in the last few years than the S&P 500.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
Investor euphoria for the AI spending race could be tripped up simply by the law of very large numbers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
“This is a team that deserves a huge respect from me … the way they use this euphoria around them for this World Cup, it’s nice to see this. I really respect them.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
He looked around the house unable to contain his euphoria over his selection of a dwelling.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
