joyful
Americanadjective
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full of joy, as a person or one's heart; glad; delighted.
- Antonyms:
- melancholy
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showing or expressing joy, as looks, actions, or speech.
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causing or bringing joy, as an event, a sight, or news; delightful.
the joyful announcement of their marriage.
adjective
-
full of joy; elated
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expressing or producing joy
a joyful look
a joyful occasion
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of joyful
Explanation
Someone who's joyful is very happy. A joyful child will laugh with delight. When you experience the feeling of joy, you're joyful. For many people, their wedding day, the birth of their children, or simply a beautiful summer afternoon can all be joyful occasions. To be joyful is beyond being happy — there is delight and a kind of bliss involved in feeling joyful. The noun joy is at the root of joyful, from the Old French joie with its Latin root of gaudere, "rejoice."
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.
Absent since April, the joyful tennis comet—and defending champion—announces his New York City return.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Strangers sang to each other in joyful unison, while others closed their eyes or held their hands on their chest in complete awe of witnessing a veteran artist in her element.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
She urged Angelenos to “raise our expectations” of what’s possible and strive for a city that’s “affordable, functional, safe, joyful, ambitious.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
It turned an already joyful afternoon into a moment Promise and his friends would not soon forget.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
To Gingersnipes’s shock and delight, he bounded on all fours, leaping, frolicking, plunging into the Afterlife with the joyful abandon of a kit.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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.
