Word of the Day

: June 3, 2016

jubilate

verb JOO-buh-layt

What It Means

: to rejoice

jubilate in Context

The crowd jubilated as the baserunner slid across home plate with the winning run.

"When the game was over … there was a lot of jumping up and down and jiggling and hugging and jubilating in the luxury box belonging to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones." — Cindy Boren, The Washington Post, 5 Jan. 2015

Did You Know?

When things are going your way, you may want to shout for joy. Jubilate testifies to the fact that people have had the urge to give (loud) voice to their happiness for centuries. Although jubilate first appeared in print around the middle of the 17th century, its connection to vocal joy goes back much farther; it is derived from the Latin verb jubilare, which means "to shout for joy." Jubilare has also played a role in the development of a few other closely related joyful English words, including jubilant (the earliest meaning was "making a joyful noise," though it is now most often used to mean simply "exultant") and jubilation ("an act of rejoicing").