merry
adjective
full of cheerfulness or gaiety; joyous in disposition or spirit.
merry
1 American
[mer-ee]
/ ˈmɛr i /
adjective
-
merrier,
comparative
-
merriest
superlative
-
full of cheerfulness or gaiety; joyous in disposition or spirit.
a merry little man.
- Synonyms:
- glad, cheery, frolicsome, blithesome, blithe, happy
- Antonyms:
- sad
-
laughingly happy; mirthful; festively joyous; hilarious.
a merry time at the party.
- Antonyms:
- solemn
-
Archaic. causing happiness; pleasant; delightful.
idioms
Merry
2
American
[mer-ee]
/ ˈmɛr i /
noun
merry
British
/ ˈmɛrɪ /
adjective
-
cheerful; jolly
-
very funny; hilarious
-
informal slightly drunk
-
archaic delightful
-
to revel; be festive
-
informal to disturb greatly; disrupt
Pronunciation
See Mary.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
merrinessnoun
-
overmerrinessnoun
-
overmerryadjective
-
unmerryadjective
-
merrilyadverb
-
overmerrilyadverb
-
unmerrilyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of merry
First recorded before 900; Middle English meri(e),myrie, murie, Old English myr(i)ge, mer(i)ge “pleasant, delightful”
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing merry
Joy To The Word: Christmas Terms
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"The Moustache" and "Who We Really Are"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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:
Although his association with “Star Trek” and Picard came to define how people perceived him, Stewart’s merry attitude about his claim to fame let us appreciate his range.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
And no one among that afternoon’s merry band of Vikings has fully recovered since.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Sign Off: Now go forth and be merry!
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
His group of merry men held meetups at coffee shops, beer halls and the zoo, hosted holiday hootenannies and even offered CPR classes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
“If you merry minstrels want to knock off, you can,” says Mr. Van Deusen.
From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein
He is also the first solo male Welsh artist in 41 years to top the singles chart, after Shakin' Stevens' 1985 timeless festive hit, Merry Christmas Everyone.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
“The Merry Wives of Windsor Cove,” a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at UC Irvine’s New Swan Shakespeare Festival, relocates the comedy to a Southern California beach town in the 1950s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
He joined the Royal Court Company and spent two years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he performed in productions of “Julius Caesar,” “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “The Relapse.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 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
Merry watched us with blinking eyes and an open mouth.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
Basically, the more stocks that are participating in the rally, the merrier.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 9, 2026
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
"I just thought to myself, the more the merrier," she says.
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2025
The more the merrier is especially true during the holiday season.
From Barron's ● Dec. 15, 2025
‘I always imagined that as one journeyed south it got warmer and merrier, until winter was left behind for ever.’
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
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
