gaiety
Americannoun
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gaieties
plural
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the state of being joyous, vivacious, or cheerful.
- Synonyms:
- joviality, cheerfulness, vivacity, hilarity, sportiveness, liveliness, joyousness, jollity, glee, mirth, merriment
- Antonyms:
- sadness
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Often gaieties. merrymaking or festivity.
the gaieties of the New Year season.
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gaiety of dress.
- Synonyms:
- gaudiness, flashiness, glitter, brilliance
noun
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the state or condition of being merry, bright, or lively
-
festivity; merrymaking
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of gaiety
Explanation
A festive, happy event, like a big summer backyard party, will be full of gaiety — or merriment and playfulness. The noun gaiety is the feeling of happiness and delight that might be present at a child's birthday party or a festive square dance. Gaiety can describe a person's generally joyful personality, or the sound of laughter in your house. It comes from the French word gaieté, "joy, merriment, lightheartedness," which evolved from gai, "charming, joyful, happy." The word can be correctly spelled gaiety or gayety, although the first spelling is much more common.
Vocabulary lists containing gaiety
Words for the International Day of Happiness
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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
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The Picture of Dorian Gray
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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:
The general gaiety of the show doesn’t mean the photos here are slight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
Just seven blocks over and five blocks up from where the shell casings hit the sidewalk, they gathered for gaiety in a glitzy ballroom.
From Slate ● Mar. 3, 2025
Beneath the gaiety and carousing ran an undercurrent of anguish: The country remains locked in a ferocious war with Russia.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 15, 2023
"Asteroid City's eccentricity, its elegance, its gaiety, and its sheer profusion of detail within the tableau frame make it such a pleasure," he wrote.
From BBC ● May 24, 2023
Kate’s lips were smiling sweetly and a gaiety was coming over her.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
The idea of a sort of highborn Oxford, circa 1900, fits the play's alfresco gaieties, elaborate forms, donnish humor and prankish but decorous lovemaking.
From Time Magazine Archive
Encouraged by the shouts, cheery or derisive, of Provincetown's Portuguese fishermen, the fleet then set out across Massachusetts Bay for Marblehead, for the first formal gaieties of the cruise.
From Time Magazine Archive
The price tag for the gothic gaieties: $25,000.
From Time Magazine Archive
The enchantment of the terrace operates suddenly to make these people's glib and pessimistic gaieties, when turned to a parody of the past, rekindle its most significant moments.
From Time Magazine Archive
Deck'd in the gaieties of thoughtless Joy Let jocund Laughter in each orbit beam In mirth alone I passing time Employ Attune my Voice & Pleasure is the Theme.
From The Harlot's Progress, The Rake's Progress (MS., CA. 1778-1780) by Anonymous
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.
