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Synonyms

merry

1 American  
[mer-ee] / ˈmɛr i /

adjective

merrier, merriest

  1. full of cheerfulness or gaiety; joyous in disposition or spirit.

    a merry little man.
    Synonyms:
    glad, cheery, frolicsome, blithesome, blithe, happy
    Antonyms:
    sad

  2. laughingly happy; mirthful; festively joyous; hilarious.

    a merry time at the party.
    Synonyms:
    gleeful, jovial, jolly
    Antonyms:
    solemn

  3. Archaic. causing happiness; pleasant; delightful.

idioms

  1. make merry,

    1. to be happy or festive.

      The New Year's revelers were making merry in the ballroom.

    2. to make fun of; ridicule.

      The unthinking children made merry of the boy who had no shoes.
Merry 2 American  
[mer-ee] / ˈmɛr i /

noun

  1. a female given name.

merry British  
/ ˈmɛrɪ /

adjective

  1. cheerful; jolly

  2. very funny; hilarious

  3. informal slightly drunk

  4. archaic delightful

  5. to revel; be festive

  6. informal to disturb greatly; disrupt

"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

Pronunciation

See Mary.

Other Word Forms

  • merrily adverb
  • merriness noun
  • overmerrily adverb
  • overmerriness noun
  • overmerry adjective
  • unmerrily adverb
  • unmerry adjective

Etymology

Origin of merry

First recorded before 900; Middle English meri(e),myrie, murie, Old English myr(i)ge, mer(i)ge “pleasant, delightful”

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 contrast, Fernlight Forest, across the road, was bursting with life, merry with birdsong and the crunch of paws in the underbrush.

From Literature

“The more, the merrier,” says Vincent Day, who has separate clusters of close friends, some revolving around music, some around work, others from his kids’ school and a half-dozen from high school.

From The Wall Street Journal

"I do my best, but I can't slow down this merry go round."

From BBC

But his blue eyes behind the thick round spectacles were as mild and merry as ever, and he gazed from one of us to the other with frank delight.

From Literature

I imagined that my mother had looked a lot like Ida with her black hair and merry smile.

From Literature

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.