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 Through tears – and adorably delirious and gleeful laughter – Kennedy is awestruck, swaying back and forth to the beat of the song in disbelief. Alli Rosenbloom, CNN, 31 Mar. 2024 Regardless of which team emerges victorious at the end of May, the two to fall short will be subject to the cruelest form of autopsy, a sustained and gleeful search for whatever shortcomings can be found. Rory Smith, New York Times, 29 Mar. 2024 The legalizations of vices can be followed by gleeful oversaturation, and that period of chaos and moral myopia may obscure what is good about letting people openly engage in something that was previously hidden. Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2024 His gleeful, prickly cinema offers a jolting remedy. Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2024 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

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 Apr. 2024.

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