joy
noun
the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation.
joy
1 American
[joi]
/ dʒɔɪ /
noun
-
joys
plural
-
the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation.
She felt the joy of seeing her son's success.
- Synonyms:
- rapture
- Antonyms:
- grief, sorrow, unhappiness, misery
-
a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated.
Her prose style is a pure joy.
-
the expression or display of glad feeling; festive gaiety.
-
a state of happiness or felicity.
- Synonyms:
- bliss
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
Joy
2
American
[joi]
/ dʒɔɪ /
Or
Joye
noun
joy
British
/ dʒɔɪ /
noun
-
a deep feeling or condition of happiness or contentment
-
something causing such a feeling; a source of happiness
-
an outward show of pleasure or delight; rejoicing
-
informal success; satisfaction
I went to the bank for a loan, but got no joy
verb
-
(intr) to feel joy
-
obsolete (tr) to make joyful; gladden
joy
Idioms
Synonym Usage
See pleasure.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of joy
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English joy(e), from Old French joie, joye, from Late Latin gaudia, neuter plural (taken as feminine singular) of Latin gaudium “joy,” equivalent to gaud- (base of gaudēre “to be glad”) + -ium -ium
Explanation
Joy is the emotion of pleasure and happiness. Joy can also be the very thing that delights you. You might find great joy in learning new vocabulary. Or not. Joy can also be used as a verb. You can joy in the fact that you have no homework for the weekend. Or, you might want to rejoice when the teacher announces that the test has been canceled. It's a real joy to use the word as an adjective, too. For example, receiving straight A's probably makes you extremely joyful.
Vocabulary lists containing joy
"The Giving Tree"
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Key Words, Unit 5
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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:
"How different things felt this week - just music and joy everywhere really," she told BBC News NI.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
How can we find the joy in all of this?
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
"The joy, the soul, the humor, the music, the poetry, the mythology, original time, place, and space," the Oscar-winning actor told AFP when asked why he had chosen the indie film for his comeback.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
There was joy in pretending this was a complete coincidence and not a highly probable event; these were all ladies with bangs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
His father shook with joy as he piled the table high.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Family and friends of Dyer have since been trying to raise $28,000 on GoFundMe to help his wife, Joy, pay for funeral costs, living expenses and therapy sessions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
“For-profit companies that repeatedly cause catastrophic harm must be held accountable, not protected and enriched,” wrote Joy Chen, executive director of Every Fire Survivors Network, who is leading the coalition, in the letter to Newsom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Laura Joy, from the charity, said: "Artwork really gives people a chance to do meaningful activity towards rehabilitation and to support better choices."
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Joy said the scheme was "a way of giving back" and a way to give the artists a "huge sense of pride".
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
By the time we walked out of the theater, I felt like a different Joy.
From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks
As Karen and I triage our possessions, I have discovered the joys of life in a tidy house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
But rather than fixate on that, might we suggest a few reads about all the joys available to us in this world?
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026
"Human consent is not an impediment to progress. Human consent does not diminish the struggles and the joys of technological innovation or inhuman creativity," Blanchett said at the event in the parliament's library.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
"One of the joys of cinema is being transported to a place that you didn't know of before or another culture, another language."
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
For a moment I knew the intimate and subtle joys of misery.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
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.
