jovial

jo·vial

adj \ˈjō-vē-əl, -vyəl\

Definition of JOVIAL

1

capitalized : of or relating to Jove

2

: markedly good-humored especially as evidenced by jollity and conviviality

— jo·vi·al·i·ty \ˌjō-vē-ˈa-lə-tē\ noun

— jo·vial·ly \ˈjō-vē-ə-lē, -vyə-\ adverb

Examples of JOVIAL

1. The audience was in a jovial mood.
2. He's a very jovial man.
3. In response, an infuriating wink: Alsana always likes to appear jovial at the very moment that her interlocutor becomes hot under the collar. —Zadie Smith, White Teeth, 2001
4. I felt I was slumming, in my own life. My task was to ward off the drivel … the jovial claptrap of classmates and teachers, the maddening bromides I heard at home. —Susan Sontag, New Yorker, 21 Dec. 1987
5. For, the people who were shovelling away on the housetops were jovial and full of glee; calling out to one another from the parapets, and now and then exchanging a facetious snowball… —Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, 1843

First Known Use of JOVIAL

1592

Related to JOVIAL

Synonyms: blithesome, festive, gay, gleeful, jocose, jocular, jocund, jolly, merry, laughing, mirthful, sunny

Related Words: amused, beaming, chuckling, giggling, smiling; bright, buoyant, carefree, cheerful, cheery, chipper, lighthearted, lightsome, upbeat; animated, bouncing, frisky, jaunty, lively, peppy, perky, spirited, sprightful, sprightly, vivacious, zippy; blessed (also blest), blissful, delighted, ecstatic, elated, enraptured, entranced, euphoric, exhilarated, exuberant, exultant, gladsome, happy, high, joyful, joyous, jubilant, overjoyed, radiant, rapturous, ravished, thrilled, tickled; amusing, facetious, flippant, frolicsome, funny, hilarious, jesting, joking, joshing, playful, sportive, witty; cavalier, devil-may-care, easygoing, happy-go-lucky, insouciant, unconcerned; hopeful, optimistic, rosy, sanguine; antic, comic, comical, farcical, humorous, riotous, sidesplitting, uproarious

Near Antonyms: abject, aggrieved, anguished, blue, brokenhearted, crestfallen, dejected, depressed, despondent, disconsolate, disheartened, dispirited, downcast, downhearted, forlorn, glum, heartbroken, heartsick, heavyhearted, low-spirited, melancholy, sad, saddened, sorrowful, unhappy; crying, groaning, moaning, sobbing, wailing, weeping; discontented, disgruntled, moody; doleful, dolorous, joyless, lachrymose, lugubrious, mournful, plaintive, sorry, woeful; black, bleak, cheerless, comfortless, dark, depressing, desolate, dismal, dreary, gloomy, glum, gray (also grey), morose, saturnine, somber (or sombre), sullen; miserable, woebegone, wretched; dull, lethargic, listless, sluggish, torpid

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See Synonym Discussion at merry