jovial

jo·vial

adjective \ˈjō-vē-əl, -vyəl\

Definition of JOVIAL

1

capitalized : of or relating to Jove

2

: markedly good-humored especially as evidenced by jollity and conviviality

— jo·vi·al·i·ty \ˌjō-vē-ˈa-lə-tē\ noun

— jo·vial·ly \ˈjō-vē-ə-lē, -vyə-\ adverb

Examples of JOVIAL

1. The audience was in a jovial mood.
2. He's a very jovial man.
3. In response, an infuriating wink: Alsana always likes to appear jovial at the very moment that her interlocutor becomes hot under the collar. —Zadie Smith, White Teeth, 2001
4. I felt I was slumming, in my own life. My task was to ward off the drivel … the jovial claptrap of classmates and teachers, the maddening bromides I heard at home. —Susan Sontag, New Yorker, 21 Dec. 1987
5. For, the people who were shovelling away on the housetops were jovial and full of glee; calling out to one another from the parapets, and now and then exchanging a facetious snowball… —Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, 1843

First Known Use of JOVIAL

1592

Related to JOVIAL

Synonyms

blithesome, festive, gay, gleeful, jocose, jocular, jocund, jolly, merry, laughing, mirthful, sunny

Related Words

amused, beaming, chuckling, giggling, smiling; bright, buoyant, carefree, cheerful, cheery, chipper, lighthearted, lightsome, upbeat; animated, bouncing, frisky, jaunty, lively, peppy, perky, spirited, sprightful, sprightly, vivacious, zippy; blessed (also blest), blissful, delighted, ecstatic, elated, enraptured, entranced, euphoric, exhilarated, exuberant, exultant, gladsome, happy, high, joyful, joyous, jubilant, overjoyed, radiant, rapturous, ravished, thrilled, tickled; amusing, facetious, flippant, frolicsome, funny, hilarious, jesting, joking, joshing, playful, sportive, witty; cavalier, devil-may-care, easygoing, happy-go-lucky, insouciant, unconcerned; hopeful, optimistic, rosy, sanguine; antic, comic, comical, farcical, humorous, riotous, sidesplitting, uproarious

Near Antonyms

abject, aggrieved, anguished, blue, brokenhearted, crestfallen, dejected, depressed, despondent, disconsolate, disheartened, dispirited, downcast, downhearted, forlorn, glum, heartbroken, heartsick, heavyhearted, low-spirited, melancholy, sad, saddened, sorrowful, unhappy; crying, groaning, moaning, sobbing, wailing, weeping; discontented, disgruntled, moody; doleful, dolorous, joyless, lachrymose, lugubrious, mournful, plaintive, sorry, woeful; black, bleak, cheerless, comfortless, dark, depressing, desolate, dismal, dreary, gloomy, glum, gray (also grey), morose, saturnine, somber (or sombre), sullen; miserable, woebegone, wretched; dull, lethargic, listless, sluggish, torpid

See Synonym Discussion at merry