joyful

[ joi-fuhl ]

See synonyms for: joyful joyfully joyfulness on Thesaurus.com

adjective

full of joy, as a person or one's heart; glad; delighted.
showing or expressing joy, as looks, actions, or speech.

causing or bringing joy, as an event, a sight, or news; delightful: the joyful announcement of their marriage.

Origin of joyful

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English; joy + -ful

Other words for joyful

1	joyous, happy, blithe; buoyant, elated, jubilant

See synonyms for joyful on Thesaurus.com

Opposites for joyful

1	melancholy

See antonyms for joyful on Thesaurus.com

Other words from joyful

joy·ful·ly, adverb
joy·ful·ness, noun
o·ver·joy·ful, adjective
o·ver·joy·ful·ly, adverb
o·ver·joy·ful·ness, noun
un·joy·ful, adjective
un·joy·ful·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use joyful in a sentence

Part of Goldworm’s job is to help people change whatever experience they are having into something more joyful, more comfortable and more special through the use of scent.
5 ways to chase the bad 2020 vibes out of your home | Elizabeth Mayhew | January 7, 2021 | Washington Post
Lately, he’s become an icon of joyful culinary maximalism, happy to engage in things like a virtual nacho battle with Bill Murray.
Guy Fieri on Why Restaurant Workers Need Our Support | Raisa Bruner | June 23, 2020 | Time
They were slender and graceful, clad all in white—as spotless as the vessel itself, and glowing with health and joyfulness.
Love's Pilgrimage | Upton Sinclair
Youth will never live to age, without they keep themselves in breath with exercise, and in heart with joyfulness.
Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources | James Wood
You will never live to my age, without you keep yourselves in breath with exercise, and in heart with joyfulness.
Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources | James Wood

We have now to consider the way in which the presence or absence of joyfulness, in these several classes, is expressed in art.
The Stones of Venice, Volume III (of 3) | John Ruskin
That there should exist such an emotion as joyfulness among them is a fact which greatly astonishes Ned Gancy and young Chester.
The Land of Fire | Mayne Reid

British Dictionary definitions for joyful

joyful

/ (ˈdʒɔɪfʊl) /

adjective

full of joy; elated
expressing or producing joy: a joyful look; a joyful occasion

Derived forms of joyful

joyfully, adverb
joyfulness, 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

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