glad
1 Americanadjective
-
gladder,
comparative
-
gladdest
superlative
-
feeling joy or pleasure; delighted; pleased: glad that you are here.
glad about the good news;
glad that you are here.
- Antonyms:
- sad
-
accompanied by or causing joy or pleasure: glad tidings.
a glad occasion;
glad tidings.
- Antonyms:
- sad
-
characterized by or showing cheerfulness, joy, or pleasure, as looks or utterances.
- Antonyms:
- sad
-
very willing.
I'll be glad to give him your message.
verb (used with object)
noun
adjective
-
happy and pleased; contented
-
causing happiness or contentment
-
very willing
he was glad to help
-
happy or pleased to have
glad of her help
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of glad1
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English glæd; cognate with Old Norse glathr “bright, glad,” Dutch glad, German glatt “smooth”; akin to Latin glaber “smooth”
Origin of glad2
First recorded in 1920–25; by shortening
Explanation
Glad is how you feel when you hear that something nice happened to someone you care about, or when you learn you got an A on that test you studied so hard for. It means happy or pleased. Glad doesn't quite mean jumping for joy — it's more a state of contentment and pleasure. You're glad to hear from an old friend who calls you out of the blue and glad to meet your friendly new neighbors. Glad can also mean "eagerly willing" so you might say, "I'll be glad to taste test those brownies for you!" The Old English source is glæd, "gleaming, joyous, or gracious."
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:
She said she is glad her career lasted long enough to allow her to play against two elite playmakers — Minnesota Lynx guard Olivia Miles and Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
"Of course I'm glad that we're getting more national interest in wildfires," she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Overwhelmed by the choices, I contacted a travel agent — and I’m so glad that I did.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
“Oh, that’s lucky, baby! I’m so glad they had it.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
“But I’m glad you all finally met. Maybe Brie and Teddy can join us for a Thursday night dinner sometime, huh, Grace? So Celia can meet them, too.”
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
I was even gladder to see his look of awe, his happy suspension of disbelief in the face of such adult wizardry.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 29, 2019
No holdouts, which makes Carroll’s heart even gladder.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 30, 2016
And in the end I'm gladder that I watched it than I would be if it hadn't been made in the first place.
From Slate ● Dec. 20, 2012
I am glad to have finally seen it, but gladder still that my bed is not a bus ride away.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 25, 2010
I was glad that Polly had found his proper place in the world but gladder still that it was not with us.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
For many an entrepreneurial Pop the gladdest moment of a lifetime is when his No.1 son enters the family firm.
From Time Magazine Archive
Famed in Los Angeles as the gladdest glad-hander of them all, Norris Poulson made the mistake of trying to slug it out with Yorty.
From Time Magazine Archive
Across the land this Christmas season, churches old and new, grand or unpretentious, prepare for the gladdest occasion of the Christian calendar.
From Time Magazine Archive
She had run over to me and was standing down below with the gladdest face.
From "The Stars Beneath Our Feet" by David Barclay Moore
The mother was the gladdest and most active; the bride heeded nothing, but retired into her chamber to meditate upon her changing destiny.
From Translations from the German (Vol 3 of 3) Tales by Musaeus, Tieck, Richter by Thomas Carlyle
The doctor waved his hand to the Royal Orchestra, who immediately struck up with Jesu Christes Milde Moder—since Dr. Bartholomew’s book had recommended that madmen should be gladded with instruments.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
But I find not the angel in any wise gladded with the same.
From Mistress Margery by Emily Sarah Holt
And they must be gladded with instruments of music, and some deal be occupied.'
From Old-Time Makers of Medicine The Story of The Students And Teachers of the Sciences Related to Medicine During the Middle Ages by James Joseph Walsh
Now, I saw in my dream, that He spake many good words unto them, whereby they were greatly gladded.
From Works of John Bunyan — Volume 03 by John Bunyan
This news so gladded the heart of Corydon, that he should not be put out of his farm, that putting off his shepherd's bonnet, he did her all the reverence that he might.
From Rosalynde or, Euphues' Golden Legacy by Edward Chauncey Baldwin
But where the devil were you gladding last night, my young master?
From The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas père
Oh, noble is the knotted oak, And sweet the gush of sylvan streams, And good the great sun's gladding beams, The blush of life upon the field, The silent might that mountains wield.
From Rose and Roof-Tree — Poems by George Parsons Lathrop
One day she saw below her in the forest a dear gazelle, gladding her with its soft black eye.
From Cobwebs from an Empty Skull by Ambrose Bierce
And God give you to know Christ, and send us a happy meeting in that His blessed habitation, unto the great gladding of your most loving and dutiful daughter, Margery Marnell.
From Mistress Margery by Emily Sarah Holt
God safely quit her of her burden, and With gentle travail, to the gladding of Your Highness with an heir!
From King Henry VIII by William Shakespeare
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.
