full of cheerfulness or gaiety; joyous in disposition or spirit.
a merry little man.
laughingly happy; mirthful; festively joyous; hilarious.
a merry time at the party.
Archaic. causing happiness; pleasant; delightful.
cheerful; jolly
very funny; hilarious
informal slightly drunk
archaic delightful
to revel; be festive
informal to disturb greatly; disrupt
See Mary.
First recorded before 900; Middle English meri(e),myrie, murie, Old English myr(i)ge, mer(i)ge “pleasant, delightful”
To be merry is to be happy, especially in a fun, festive way. Parties and celebrations are merry, and so are the fun people who attend them. This old fashioned word for “happy” is popular in December when people say, “Merry Christmas.” To be merry is to be happy, jaunty, and ready to frolic. A group of people laughing as they walk down the street is a merry gang. Anything merry is festive, often involving games, celebrations, and parties. A merry-go-round makes kids happy as it spins them around. Smiling and laughing are signs of being merry. If you go along your merry way, you walk away happily, maybe even skipping.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But Margaret and Alice’s quick-witted machinations provide the basis for a merry outing at the theater.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Don’t conflate Fama and his merry band of economists at the business school with the Chicago School of Economics, practitioners in the university’s economics department led by another Nobel laureate, Milton Friedman.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
Chesterton nailed it when he said “the great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made mad, for all their wars are merry, and all their songs are sad.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Corrigan told jurors he was "merry" but "not drunk".
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2026
“My body and bones! Give us a tune to make us merry, you butter-headed harpscraper!”
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
The Falstaff of Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” is not the complex figure of the “Henry IV” plays.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
By 1934, Lubitsch had left Paramount for MGM, where he directed one last musical with Chevalier and MacDonald, a loose but fizzy adaptation of Franz Lehár’s operetta “The Merry Widow.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
Activists had placed a beam in the water early on December 25 to partially recreate the wave, according to German media reports, and hung a banner above the water that read "Merry Christmas".
From Barron's ● Dec. 28, 2025
It's a multilingual country and the greeting inside - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - is in French, German, Flemish and English.
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2025
By nightfall they had discovered no trace of Merry and Pippin.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
There was no merrier illustration of the varieties of human experience than this runaway French hit, which was, like “Don Quixote,” translated into English by Smollett in 1748.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
The more the merrier is especially true during the holiday season.
From Barron's ● Dec. 15, 2025
As long as no ribs are broken, the more, the merrier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2023
“I think Rob welcomes that. The more the merrier for him. So that doesn’t show our hand on or foretell what’s going to happen in the future.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 30, 2022
‘It is largely on account of Balin that I have come to ask the advice of those that dwell in Rivendell. But tonight let us speak of merrier things!’
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
It’s the merriest time of the year — and arguably when the resort is at its glistening, glowing best with seasonal food offerings, holiday ride makeovers and unique live entertainment options.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2025
While each piece features rotating focal points, they all tie together with a beautiful gold scroll border, working to create the merriest tablescape of all.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 17, 2021
It was here and now it is gone, the merriest, brightest, and most thankful Christmas the world has ever known.
From Slate ● Dec. 21, 2020
But over the past year, Corden has become one of the merriest revelations on American TV, defying early skepticism and finding a loyal audience in the cluttered late-night landscape.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2016
Since I’d been helping out stitching the detectives’ costumes, I’d become friendly with a few of the agents, and Mr. Webster was the merriest.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
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.
