cheerfulness

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Good humor

Nouns

1. cheerfulness, geniality, gaiety, sunniness, good nature; cheer, good humor, high spirits, animal spirits; glee, light heart; optimism (See hope).Slang, joygerm fever. See pleasure.

2. liveliness, vivacity, animation, exuberance, spirit. Informal, zip. See activity.

3. mirth, merriment, hilarity, exhilaration; joviality, jollity, levity; jocularity (See wit); playfulness, laughter, merrymaking, fun, amusement. See

rejoicing.

4. contentment, contentedness; happiness, peace of mind (See content).

Verbs

1. be cheerful, have the mind at ease, put a good face upon, keep up one's spirits; be of good cheer, see the bright side; cheer up, brighten up, light up, bear up; take heart, cast away care, drive dull care away, perk up, snap out of it; tread on air; rejoice, carol, chirrup, chirp; frisk, lilt. Slang, feel one's oats, kick up one's heels.

2. cheer [up], enliven, elate, exhilarate, gladden, hearten, inspirit, animate, raise the spirits, buck up, inspire; encourage, refresh. Slang, jazz up, give a shot in the arm.

Adjectives

1. cheerful, genial, happy, glad, cheery, of good cheer, good-natured, smiling, sunny, blithe; in good spirits, high-spirited, happy as the day is long, happy as a clam, gay [as a lark]; light, lightsome, lighthearted; buoyant, free and easy, airy, jaunty. Informal, high.

2. lively, sprightly, spirited, animated, vivacious; sparkling, full of play, full of spirit, all alive.

3. merry as a cricket or grig, joyous, joyful, jocund, jovial, jolly, blithesome, gleeful, hilarious; playful [as a kitten], tricksy; mirth-loving, laughter-loving, mirthful, rollicking; elated, jubilant, rejoicing; cock-a-hoop; cheering, inspiriting, exhilarating; pleasing.

Adverbs — cheerfully, cheerily, with relish, with zest; in fine fettle, in high spirits or feather; [sitting] on top of the world, flying or riding high, in [the] seventh heaven, on cloud nine.

Phrases — happiness is what you make of it.

Quotations — The joyfulness of a man prolongeth his days (Bible), As cheerful as the day is long (Shakespeare), Happiness is no laughing matter (Richard Whately), Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so (John Stuart Mill), Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination (Immanuel Kant).

Antonyms, See dejection.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. good humor, gaiety, geniality, hopefulness; see happiness 1 , humor 3 , optimism 2 .

III

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun A condition of supreme well-being and good spirits: beatitude, blessedness, bliss, cheer, felicity, gladness, happiness, joy, joyfulness. See HAPPY.