gleeful

adjective

glee·​ful ˈglē-fəl How to pronounce gleeful (audio)
: full of glee : merry
gleeful laughter
gleefully adverb
gleefulness noun

Examples of gleeful in a Sentence

the gleeful atmosphere that envelops the host city of the Super Bowl
Recent Examples on the Web Plane Jane is revealing Bob the Drag Queen's reaction to the season 16 queen crash-landing her gleeful RuPaul's Drag Race reign of mischief on Madonna's runway last month. Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 11 Mar. 2024 Embodying the gleeful showman requires a degree of humility, one that celebrities seem to be less and less inclined to express. Fran Hoepfner, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2024 The Louisiana native took Thomas' gleeful shaming good-naturedly on social media this week and again after his landmark round. Greg Beacham, USA TODAY, 19 Jan. 2024 Built on steel and coal, the city was run for years by a left-leaning council that was a gleeful thorn in the side of successive British governments. Rory Smith, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2024 The celebrations of the killing by Israel’s political leaders; the fantastic schemes for the removal of Palestinians to Sinai, or Europe, or Congo; the public figures signing bombs to be dropped on what’s left of Gaza; the gleeful recordings made by individual soldiers—all combine malice and mirth. Seyward Darby, Longreads, 8 Feb. 2024 Director: Joseph Kosinski Tommy Wirkola’s gooey, pleasantly icky Christmas action-comedy is a mix of childlike whimsy and gleeful gore. EW.com, 31 Jan. 2024 From her freshman season, Clark tormented the male managers and team assistants who tried to guard her in practice, raining gleeful profanities after each jumper. Matt Flegenheimer, New York Times, 6 Feb. 2024 In the winter stillness on a frozen lake, a man’s gleeful howl torpedoed the quietude. Julia Daye, Miami Herald, 6 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gleeful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1586, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of gleeful was in 1586

Dictionary Entries Near gleeful

Cite this Entry

“Gleeful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gleeful. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on gleeful

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!