merry
adjective
full of cheerfulness or gaiety; joyous in disposition or spirit.
merry
1 American
[mer-ee]
/ ˈmɛr i /
adjective
merrier,
merriest
-
full of cheerfulness or gaiety; joyous in disposition or spirit.
a merry little man.
- Synonyms:
- glad, cheery, frolicsome, blithesome, blithe, happy
- Antonyms:
- sad
-
laughingly happy; mirthful; festively joyous; hilarious.
a merry time at the party.
- Antonyms:
- solemn
-
Archaic. causing happiness; pleasant; delightful.
idioms
Merry
2
American
[mer-ee]
/ ˈmɛr i /
noun
merry
British
/ ˈmɛrɪ /
adjective
-
cheerful; jolly
-
very funny; hilarious
-
informal slightly drunk
-
archaic delightful
-
to revel; be festive
-
informal to disturb greatly; disrupt
Pronunciation
See Mary.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of merry
First recorded before 900; Middle English meri(e),myrie, murie, Old English myr(i)ge, mer(i)ge “pleasant, delightful”
Explanation
To be merry is to be happy, especially in a fun, festive way. Parties and celebrations are merry, and so are the fun people who attend them. This old fashioned word for “happy” is popular in December when people say, “Merry Christmas.” To be merry is to be happy, jaunty, and ready to frolic. A group of people laughing as they walk down the street is a merry gang. Anything merry is festive, often involving games, celebrations, and parties. A merry-go-round makes kids happy as it spins them around. Smiling and laughing are signs of being merry. If you go along your merry way, you walk away happily, maybe even skipping.
Vocabulary lists containing merry
Joy To The Word: Christmas Terms
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"The Moustache" and "Who We Really Are"
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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.
In a stressful, often cruel environment, it felt less like a performance, and more like a merry rebuke.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026
Motin had led jurors on a "merry dance" in his evidence, which was an "exercise in inventive distraction", Mr Justice Baker said.
From BBC • Feb. 5, 2026
And if you had that kind of a mother — or better, if you are that kind of a mother — the merry derangement O’Hara brought to her performances was soul-satisfying.
From Salon • Feb. 4, 2026
Tomlin’s expected to sit out at least a season to relax on TV, and just wait: Any time there’s a team in trouble, a merry Tomlinpalooza will commence.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 14, 2026
It was Christmas week: we took to no settled employment, but spent it in a sort of merry domestic dissipation.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
