Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to or characteristic of the god Jove or Jupiter; Jove-like; powerful; majestic: as, Jovial attributes.
  • Of or pertaining to the planet Jupiter: as, the Jovial satellites.
  • In astrology, under the influence of the planet Jupiter; derived from Jupiter as a natal planet, which, like Jove himself, was regarded as the source of joy and happiness: as, the Jovial temperament.
  • Hence [lowercase] Characterized by cheerfulness or gaiety; joyous; merry; jolly: opposed to grave: as, a jovial fellow.
  • [lowercase] In alchemy, of or pertaining to tin.
  • Synonyms Mirthful, etc. See jolly.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Of or pertaining to the god, or the planet, Jupiter.
  • adjective obsolete Sunny; serene.
  • adjective Gay; merry; joyous; jolly; mirth-inspiring; hilarious; characterized by mirth or jollity

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective obsolete Pertaining to Jove or Zeus; Jovian.
  • adjective obsolete Pertaining to the planet Jupiter; Jovian.
  • adjective astrology, obsolete Under the influence of the planet Jupiter (considered a source of happiness).
  • adjective Merry; cheerful and good-humored.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective full of or showing high-spirited merriment

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Middle French, under the favorable astrological influence of the planet Jupiter, jovial, from Old Italian, from Late Latin Ioviālis, of Jupiter, from Latin Iuppiter, Iov-, Jupiter; see dyeu- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French jovial, from Italian gioviale, from Latin ioviālis, from Iovis ("Jove"), i.e. Jupiter, the planet which was thought by astrologers to bring jollity.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word jovial.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.