gladden
Americanverb (used with object)
-
gladdens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gladdened,
past participle, past
-
gladdening
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
gladdens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gladdened,
past participle, past
-
gladdening
present participle
verb
Synonym Usage
See cheer.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
gladdensimple
-
gladdenssimple
-
have gladdenedperfect
-
has gladdenedperfect
-
am gladdeningprogressive
-
are gladdeningprogressive
-
is gladdeningprogressive
-
have been gladdeningperfect progressive
-
has been gladdeningperfect progressive
Past
-
gladdenedsimple
-
had gladdenedperfect
-
was gladdeningprogressive
-
were gladdeningprogressive
-
had been gladdeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gladden
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at glad 1, -en 1
Explanation
To gladden is to make someone happy by delighting them or cheering them up. It will gladden your heart to finally find your lost dog. The verb gladden means "to make glad," from the Old English glæd, "bright, shining, gleaming" and also "joyous." So when something gladdens you, like running into your beloved kindergarten teacher, it brightens your whole day. Before the early 14th century, people used the word glad as a verb instead, as in: "It glads my ears to hear such beautiful music."
Vocabulary lists containing gladden
Enjoy! Synonyms for "Pleasure"
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The Epic of Gilgamesh
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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 images of Rodri out on the first-team training pitches, running, turning and kicking the ball, will gladden the heart of every Manchester City fan.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2025
It will gladden your hearts to know that the man in front of her was also stopped and ticketed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2022
Rather than being a distressing duty, exclusion seems to gladden his dreary day.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 30, 2020
The modest two-story, 1950s building used to be a neighborhood bank, and it still looks it, blending right into a raucous, fine-grained urban melee that would gladden the heart of Jane Jacobs.
From New York Times ● Jun. 28, 2018
Only a letter bearing news of his return would gladden her, and she would celebrate his homecoming with all the ceremony of a holiday or saint’s festival.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
Pitt especially gladdens as the former inmate with the face tattoos and creative side gig.
From New York Times ● Jul. 14, 2022
Sometimes there's a subversive element to Twitter, a sense of underground community; an anti-establishment frisson that gladdens the soul.
From The Guardian ● May 25, 2013
The one thing that gladdens my heart is that he’s going bald.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2011
There is little that gladdens a geek's heart more than the sound of that first successful post beep from a self-built computer.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 22, 2011
She comes out with a few friends, which gladdens me because I hoped she wouldn’t be alone.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
The sight of Palmer and Rogers warming up had gladdened the hearts of many, turning jeers to cheers.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
It was his getting up on Shabbat mornings to join us at synagogue that most gladdened and baffled me.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
Rather than viewing their opponents as enemies, many athletes seem to be emboldened and gladdened by their competitors’ successes.
From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2024
Calling Cunningham a “scam artist,” he said he was gladdened by his legal troubles.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 6, 2016
There were even such books of reference as the London Directory, the “Red” and “Blue” books, Whitaker’s Almanac, the Army and Navy Lists, and—it somehow gladdened my heart to see it—the Law List.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
He imagined the hiss and pop of their burning logs gladdening “many a humble fireside.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2025
The animated series pitches Aang’s refusal to entirely abandon his innocence as a gladdening luxury in a world ravaged by war.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2024
And you would be glad, though gladdening this opera is not, to hear a performance as strong as Monday’s in any major house.
From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2022
Lenton and Wilson, with a combined age of 130, were perhaps the most gladdening of the successes.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2022
“Every tongue did its best to circulate the gladdening intelligence.”
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
