gaiety
Americannoun
-
gaieties
plural
-
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.
-
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
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
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Words for the International Day of Happiness
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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
In 1842, the Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette wrote: "Such a scene of gaiety was never before witnessed on Salisbury Plain… Parties of gentlemen and elegantly dressed ladies were scattered about in all directions."
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2023
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
Kate’s lips were smiling sweetly and a gaiety was coming over her.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
But how do you know about those gaieties of Aleman and his pals?
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
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
Until the night of the shooting there were very few people who thought that Stanford White was overfond of gaieties.
From Time Magazine Archive
Its gaieties were for him occasional delights, rather than a habitual part of the life it offered.
From Second String by Anthony Hope
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.
