Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A state of joyful exuberance or merriment; vivacity.
- noun Merry or joyful activity; festivity.
- noun Bright color or showiness, as of dress; finery.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The state of being gay; cheerful animation; mirthfulness.
- noun Action or acts prompted by or inspiring merry delight; a pleasure: commonly in the plural: as, the gaieties of the season.
- noun Finery; showiness: as, gaiety of dress.
- noun Synonyms Life, Liveliness, etc. (see
animation ); cheerfulness. joyousness, blitheness. glee, jollity.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Same as
gayety .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable The state of being
happy .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a gay feeling
- noun a festive merry feeling
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word gaiety.
Examples
-
On leave, many of your men gravitate towards the Piccadilly neighbourhood, where, despite the black-out, rationing and high prices, a certain spirituous gaiety is still achieved, but this is more likely to lower the bank account than to raise the view of the earnestness of our war-effort.
-
If he wants to be danced, we see that he has discovered that gaiety is exhilarating to us; if he refuses to be moved, we take notice that he fears to fatigue us.
-
She sought solitude, and avoided us when in gaiety and unrestrained affection we met in a family circle.
I.10 1826
-
I took leave of him with regret. his gaiety is inoffensive, & our intimacy at Lisbon created many ideas & associations which he only partakes. this evening he will be at Bath; & I hope my mothers affairs will now be settled comfortably; the plan of settling them once fixed, I expect her here.
Letter 247 1797
-
His son seems weaker in his understanding, and more gay in his temper; but his gaiety is that of a foolish, overgrown school-boy, whose mirth consists in noise and disturbance.
Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance Into the World 1778
-
Notwithstanding all my daughter says in gaiety of heart, she would sooner even relinquish the man she loves, than offend a father in whom she has always found the tenderest and most faithful of friends.
-
This doesn’t surprise, since Lubitch’s stamp of forced gaiety is all over this gilded fabergé egg of a film chronicling Catherine the Great (Tallulah Bankhead) as she seduces a young army officer (William Eythe).
-
This doesn’t surprise, since Lubitch’s stamp of forced gaiety is all over this gilded fabergé egg of a film chronicling Catherine the Great (Tallulah Bankhead) as she seduces a young army officer (William Eythe).
-
If at such scenes she was seen for an instant, she appeared to behold them with the composed indifference of one to whom their gaiety was a matter of no interest, and who seemed only desirous to glide away from the scene as soon as she possibly could.
The Monastery 2008
-
Laughter is easily restrained, by a very little reflection; but as it is generally connected with the idea of gaiety, people do not enough attend to its absurdity.
Letters to his son on The Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman 2005
oroboros commented on the word gaiety
GAietY
May 2, 2008
bilby commented on the word gaiety
"Everyone was disposed to be kind to little Ellen Mingott, though her dusky red cheeks and tight curls gave her an air of gaiety that seemed unsuitable in a child who should still have been in black for her parents."
- Edith Wharton, 'The Age of Innocence'.
September 19, 2009