happiness
noun
\
Definition of happiness
1 obsolete : good fortune : prosperity all happiness bechance to thee— William Shakespeare
2a : a state of well-being and contentment : joy
b : a pleasurable or satisfying experience I wish you every happiness in life. I had the happiness of seeing you— W. S. Gilbert
Keep scrolling for more
Synonyms & Antonyms for happiness
Synonyms
beatitude, blessedness, bliss, blissfulness, felicity, gladness, joy, warm fuzzies
Antonyms
calamity, ill-being, misery, sadness, unhappiness, wretchedness
Visit the Thesaurus for More
Examples of happiness in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
One study found that use of ephemeral social media like Snapchat was correlated with greater happiness, while more lasting social-media use has been linked to higher rates of anxiety and depression. — Jeanne Whalen, WSJ, "Is Screen Time Bad for Children’s Mental Health?," 24 June 2018 She was overcome with happiness having accomplished her goal of completing the race. — Karen Pilarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Wauwatosa couple celebrates finishing Ironman race with surprise proposal, engagement," 14 June 2018 Video from the special event shows the window cleaners drawing smiley faces and giving high-fives to the patients as the little ones erupted in happiness. — Christopher Brito, CBS News, "Window washers dressed as superheroes surprise young patients at Iowa hospital," 29 June 2018 Hotopp asked Doc as the dog spun around in circles and jumped and wagged his tail in happiness. — Sheeka Sanahori, USA TODAY, "Dog overjoyed his human is back from deployment," 22 May 2018 So don’t expect a new and improved News Feed to result in an immediate boost in happiness — even by just 20 percent. — Aja Romano, Vox, "Mark Zuckerberg lays out Facebook’s 3-pronged approach to fake news," 3 Apr. 2018 John Tangkitcharoenthawon, a local village chairman, was bursting with happiness over the successful rescue. — Kaweewit Kaewjinda And Stephen Wright, Houston Chronicle, "'Everyone is safe' after daring rescue of 13 in Thai cave," 11 July 2018 Findings suggest that cognitive impairment is not a deterrent to happiness. — chicagotribune.com, "Research finds seniors seem to enjoy longer brain health than in the past," 18 June 2018 Findings suggest that cognitive impairment is not a deterrent to happiness. — Judith Graham, Washington Post, "Research shows that the prevalence of dementia has fallen in the United States," 16 June 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'happiness.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Learn More about happiness
From the Editors at Merriam-Webster
Words We Re-Learned at TED2015
Words We Re-Learned at TED2015
9 Big Ideas that We'll Be Thinking About All Year
Statistics for happiness
Last Updated
21 Oct 2018
Look-up Popularity
Time Traveler for happiness
The first known use of happiness was in the 15th century
Keep scrolling for more
More Definitions for happiness
happiness
noun
English Language Learners Definition of happiness
: the state of being happy
: an experience that makes you happy
See the full definition for happiness in the English Language Learners Dictionary
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on happiness
What made you want to look up happiness? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
Difficult Vocab Quiz
-
- Which is a synonym of discomfit?
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZ
Share happiness
Resources for happiness