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gladden

[glad-n]
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verb (used with object)
  1. to make glad.
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verb (used without object)
  1. Obsolete. to be glad.
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Origin of gladden

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at glad1, -en1
Related formsglad·den·er, nounun·glad·den, verb (used with object)

Synonym study

1. See cheer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for gladden

Historical Examples

  • And still more of this belated spring will gladden the eye in the florist's window.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • It was she whom all this honour and distinction were to gladden; the joy and profit were for her.

    Barnaby Rudge

    Charles Dickens

  • Gladden your souls, ye mistresses, with sense of error bann'd.

  • Reflect that you may gladden and beautify your lives, or embitter them, according as you now act.

    The Home

    Fredrika Bremer

  • Bearing to the neighboring town, fuel that gladden'd the hearth-stone.

    Man of Uz, and Other Poems

    Lydia Howard Sigourney

British Dictionary definitions for gladden

gladden

verb
  1. to make or become glad and joyful
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Derived Formsgladdener, noun
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

Word Origin and History for gladden

v.

c.1300, "to be glad;" 1550s, "to make glad;" see glad + -en (1). Earlier in both senses was simply glad (v.), from Old English gladian, Mercian gleadian "be glad, make glad."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper