gleefully
Americanadverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gleefully
First recorded in 1730–40; gleeful ( def. ) + -ly ( def. )
Explanation
When you do something gleefully, you do it in an extremely happy way. If two kids call to each other gleefully across the playground, there's laughter and delight in their voices. Wedding guests might rush gleefully onto the dance floor when the DJ plays a popular song, and a child who is trick or treating for the first time will often gleefully dress in her ghost costume and even more gleefully watch her plastic pumpkin fill with Halloween candy. The adjective gleeful and related noun glee are at the root of gleefully, all of them sharing the Latin root word gliu, "entertainment, mirth, jest, or play."
Vocabulary lists containing gleefully
Achievement First 6th Grade IA 1 Words
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The Titan's Curse
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Dead End in Norvelt
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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.
Summerween in “Gravity Falls” was more or less the same as regular Halloween — “a night to celebrate pure evil,” as Grunkle Stan puts it gleefully — with trick-or-treating, carved jack-o-watermelons, and a Summerween superstore.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
Recently there have been late nights watching Scotland at the men's World Cup, while Murray gleefully collected an NBA Fantasy debt owed by doubles player Mate Pavic when they bumped into each other at Queen's.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
He gleefully brought the startled players together with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, an uptown salsa and jazz band, for concerts at Lincoln Center and Washington Heights.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
It’s a lot, for sure, but Fountain pulls it off with his gleefully absurd sense of humor.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
The dogs fairly hum with energy as we slide gleefully down the final hills into the checkpoint just before we go out on the ice and it is the end of day thirteen.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
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.
