felicific

American

[fee-luh-sif-ik] / ˌfi ləˈsɪf ɪk /

adjective

causing or tending to cause happiness.

felicific British

/ ˌfiːlɪˈsɪfɪk /

adjective

making or tending to make happy

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of felicific

First recorded in 1860–65; from Latin fēlīci- (stem of fēlīx ) “fruitful, happy, lucky” + -fic

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.

The search for a "felicific calculus" is as old as Jeremy Bentham, but so are the objections to measuring it, such as discredited cost-benefit analysis.

From The Guardian • Jul. 24, 2012

The land of cotton, Spanish moss and magnolias has other distinctive and less felicific flora�and fauna�that can all but grab the unwary.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023