- happy
- happy [hap′ē]adj.happier, happiest [ME happi < hap: see HAP1]1. favored by circumstances; lucky; fortunate2. having, showing, or causing a feeling of great pleasure, contentment, joy, etc.; joyous; glad; pleased3. exactly appropriate to the occasion; suitable and clever; apt; felicitous [a happy suggestion]4. intoxicated, or irresponsibly quick to act, as if intoxicated: sometimes used in hyphenated compounds: see SLAP-HAPPY, TRIGGER-HAPPYhappilyadv.happinessn.SYN.- HAPPY generally suggests a feeling of great pleasure, contentment, etc. [a happy marriage ]; GLAD1 implies more strongly an exultant feeling of joy [your letter made her so glad], but both GLAD1 and HAPPY are commonly used in merely polite formulas expressing gratification [I'm glad, or happy, to have met you ]; CHEERFUL implies a steady display of bright spirits, optimism, etc. [he's always cheerful in the morning ]; JOYFUL and JOYOUS both imply great elation and rejoicing, the former generally because of a particular event, and the latter as a matter of usual temperament [the joyful throngs, a joyous family ] -ANT. SAD
English World dictionary. V. Neufeldt. 2014.