Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Cheerful |
CheerfulAdjective1. Being full of or promoting cheer; having or showing good spirits; "her cheerful nature"; "a cheerful greeting"; "a cheerful room"; "as cheerful as anyone confined to a hospital bed could be". 2. Pleasantly (even unrealistically) optimistic. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "cheerful" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Synonyms: CheerfulSynonyms: pollyannaish (adj), upbeat (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: cheerless (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Cheerfulness | Verb: be cheerful; Adjective: have the mind at ease, smile, put a good face upon, keep up one's spirits; view the bright side of the picture, view things en couleur de rose; ridentem dicere virum, cheer up, brighten up, light up, bear up; chirp, take heart, cast away care, drive dull care away, perk up. |
Adjective: cheerful; happy; cheery, cheerly; of good cheer, smiling; blithe; in spirits, in good spirits; breezy, bully, chipper; in high spirits, in high feather; happy as the day is long, happy as a king; gay as a lark; allegro; debonair; light, lightsome, light hearted; buoyant, debonnaire, bright, free and easy, airy; janty, jaunty, canty; hedonic; riant; sprightly, sprightful; spry; spirited, spiritful; lively, animated, vivacious; brisk as a bee; sparkling, sportive; full of play, full of spirit; all alive. | |
Content | Adjective: content, contented; satisfied; Verb: at ease, at one's ease, at home; with the mind at ease, sans souci, sine cura, easygoing, not particular; conciliatory; unrepining, of good comfort; resigned; (patient); cheerful. |
Pain | Please, charm, delight, becharm, imparadise; gladden; (make cheerful); take, captivate, fascinate; enchant, entrance, enrapture, transport, bewitch; enravish. |
Rejoicing | Amused; cheerful. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | And tell Shakespeare, something more cheerful next time, for Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in Love; writing credit: Marc Norman; Tom Stoppard) Um, well, we listened to aggressively cheerful music sung by people chosen for their ability to dance (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) you're not your usual cheerful self (Will & Grace; writing credit: Evan Weinstein) People are always telling me how cheerful you look, riding around on your bike (The Killing of Sister George; writing credit: Lukas Heller; Frank Marcus) Laken, I know I raised you to be cheerful and always look on the bright side of things, but forget about all that right now because this is a time of crisis (Santa Barbara; writing credit: Meg Bennett; Bettina F. Bradbury) | |
Lyrics | I was cheerful, bright and gay (Alone Again (Naturally); performing artist: Gilbert O'Sullivan) | |
Clever | The Lord loves a cheerful giver. He also accepts from a grouch. (references; author: unknown) | |
Tongue Twisters | Cheerful Charles chose cherry chocolates for Cheri. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Cheerful Fraud (1927) Cheerful Credit (1922) The Cheerful Scamp (1912) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | The Gay Head Lighthouse on the west end of Martha's Vineyard. Gay Head was named for the multi-colored strata which presented a beautiful and cheerful sight on a clear day. In: Historical Collections ... of Every Town in Massachusetts. 1841. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | A cheerful Christmas carol. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Haven't you got some cheerful, light reading?. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Cheerful thought!. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | A cheerful giver / E. Brown, Jr. lith., N.Y. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
 | Amusing; arbitrary; capricious; chancy; chimerical; comical; curious; dicey; droll; eccentric; erratic; fanciful; fantastic; flaky; freakish; funny; quaint; unertain; wagish; playful; animated; blithe; bouncy; cheerful; cheery; effervescent; elastic; fanc. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Benjamin Franklin | A cheerful face is nearly as good for an invalid as healthy weather. |
C.c. Buxton | You have not fulfilled every duty unless you have fulfilled that of being cheerful and pleasant. |
Christian Nevell Bovee | The cheerful live longest in years, and afterwards in our regards. Cheerfulness is the off-shoot of goodness. |
Edwin P. Whipple | Cheerfulness in most cheerful people, is the rich and satisfying result of strenuous discipline. |
Elbert Hubbard | The cheerful loser is the winner. |
L. M. Child | Childhood itself is scarcely more lovely than a cheerful, kindly, sunshiny old age. |
Leigh Hunt | The person who can be only serious or only cheerful, is but half a man. |
Oliver Wendell Holmes | To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old. |
Thomas B. Aldrich | To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent that is to triumph over old age. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | He seemed to have all the life and spirit, cheerful feelings, and social inclinations of his father, and nothing of the pride or reserve of Enscombe |
A Christmas Carol | Dickens, Charles | Passing through the wall of mud and stone, they found a cheerful company assembled round a glowing fire |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | These nuns are not joyous, rosy, and cheerful, as are often the daughters of other orders |
Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions | Neil Gaiman | Benjamin Lassiter was coming to the unavoidable conclusion that the woman who had written A Walking Tour of the British Coastline, the book he was carrying in his backpack, had never been on a walking tour of any kind, and would probably not recognize the British coastline if it were to dance through her bedroom at the head of a marching band, singing 'I'm the British Coastline' in a loud and cheerful voice while accompanying itself on the kazoo |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | Upon this the Hurgo and his train withdrew with much civility and cheerful countenances |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | It was as if I had left a cheerful housekeeper behind |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | SHERIFF, n. In America the chief executive office of a country, whose most characteristic duties, in some of the Western and Southern States, are the catching and hanging of rogues. John Elmer Pettibone Cajee (I write of him with little glee) Was just as bad as he could be. 'Twas frequently remarked: "I swon! The sun has never looked upon So bad a man as Neighbor John." A sinner through and through, he had This added fault: it made him mad To know another man was bad. In such a case he thought it right To rise at any hour of night And quench that wicked person's light. Despite the town's entreaties, he Would hale him to the nearest tree And leave him swinging wide and free. Or sometimes, if the humor came, A luckless wight's reluctant frame Was given to the cheerful flame. While it was turning nice and brown, All unconcerned John met the frown Of that austere and righteous town. "How sad," his neighbors said, "that he So scornful of the law should be -- An anar c, h, i, s, t." (That is the way that they preferred To utter the abhorrent word, So strong the aversion that it stirred.) "Resolved," they said, continuing, "That Badman John must cease this thing Of having his unlawful fling. "Now, by these sacred relics" -- here Each man had out a souvenir Got at a lynching yesteryear -- "By these we swear he shall forsake His ways, nor cause our hearts to ache By sins of rope and torch and stake. "We'll tie his red right hand until He'll have small freedom to fulfil The mandates of his lawless will." So, in convention then and there, They named him Sheriff. The affair Was opened, it is said, with prayer. J. Milton Sloluck |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | Mutual forbearance becomes, therefore, a duty obligatory upon all, and we may, I am confident, count upon a cheerful compliance with this high injunction on the part of our constituents. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Cheerful" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.13% of the time. "Cheerful" is used about 1,153 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.13% | 1,143 | 6,703 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.87% | 10 | 111,207 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,153 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "cheerful": a cheerful countenance ♦ become cheerful ♦ of amiable and cheerful disposition. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "cheerful": cheerful-looking. | |
Ending with "cheerful": ever-cheerful. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
cheerful | 15 |
cheerful giver | 12 |
camp cheerful | 11 |
cheerful poem | 5 |
cheerful giver god love | 4 |
campground cheerful valley | 3 |
cheerful giver god loveth | 3 |
cheerful tearful | 3 |
cheerful quote | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "cheerful"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | vrolik (gay, merry). (various references) | |
Albanian | plot gaz (gleeful, gleesome), i gëzueshëm (cheery, festal, festive, frolic, frolicsome, gleeful, hilarious, joyful, mirthful), i gëzuar (airy, blithe, blithesome, canty, coltish, glad, Gladdening, gladsome, gleeful, happy, joyful, joyous, larky, lightsome, merry, mirthful, oared, sprightly), gazmor (cheery, convivial, debonair, easygoing, exhilarated, gay, genial, gladsome, gleeful, gleesome, hilarious, jaunty, jocular, jocund, jollier, jolly, jovial, joyful, joyous, light hearted, lively, merry, mirthful, perky, riant, set up, zippy). (various references) | |
Arabic | فرح (cheer, delight, gaiety, gladden, gladness, glee, gleesome, gloat, happy, joy, joyful, liven up, rejoicing, thaw, tickle), مفرح (delightful, glad, gladdening, joyful), منشرح, مسرور (delighted, glad, happy, jolly, joyful, merry, pleased), مرح (airiness, airy, be merry, blithe, breezy, bright, buoyancy, buoyant, cheerfulness, cheering, chirpy, exult, facetious, festive, fresh, frisk, frisky, frolic, frolicsome, fun, gaiety, gay, glee, gleeful, have fun, hilarious, hilarity, jaunty, jocose, jocosity, jocund, jolly, jovial, joviality, joy, joyful, joyfulness, joyous, kittenish, lark, light, lightsome, lively, make merry, merriment, merry, merry making, mirth, mirthful, perkiness, perky, playful, playfulness, playing, rejoice, rollick, romp, sportive, sprightly, sunny, vivacious, vivacity, what fun, winsome), مبهج (buoyant, delightful, enjoyable, entrancing, gladsome, heavenly, joyful, joyous, winsome, yummy), مبتهج (alacrity, blithe, breezy, bright, buoyant, carefree, cheery, debonair, delighted, delightful, elate, elated, exultant, gay, glad, gleeful, happy, high-spirited, jolly, joyful, joyous, jubilant, mellow, merry, mirthful, overjoyed, palmy, rejoicing, upbeat), جذل (be glad, exuberant, exult, exultant, exultation, glad, happy, hilarious, jubilation, rapt, rapture, rapturous), بهيج (airy, convivial, festive, glad, happy, lovely, merry, shiny, unstressed). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | светъл (auspicious, bright, cheery, clear, fair, fair haired, fine, light, liquid, lucent, lucid, pale, relucent, rosy, unshadowed, vivid, white), развеселяващ, радостен (gay, glad, gleeful, happy, jocund, joyful, joyous, lightsome, lusty, merry, mirthful), охотен (ready, willing, zesty), жив (above ground, active, agile, alert, alive, animate, breezy, brisk, dashing, high-colored, high-coloured, jaunty, jazz, jazzy, live, lively, living, lusty, mercurial, mobile, nervous, nimble, organic, peppy, perky, pert, picturesque, pregnant, quick, racy, rattling, round, saucy, sharp, skittish, snappy, spicy, spirited, sprightly, spry, swinging, vital, vivacious, vivid, volatile, warm, whippy, zappy, zippy), бодър (alive, fresh), приятен (acceptable, agreeable, clever, companionable, cozy, darling, easy, engaging, enjoyable, good, gracious, grateful, groovy, jocund, jolly, likable, likeable, likely, luscious, merry, musical, nice, nice-looking, not unwelcome, palatable, pleasant, pleasing, pretty, refreshing, rose colored, rose coloured, sapid, satisfying, savoury, soft, sweet, sympathetic, toothsome, welcome), доволен (chuffed, content, contented, glad, happy). (various references) | |
Chinese | 愜 (satisfied), 愉快 (cheerily, delighted, delightful, happy, pleasant, pleasantly, pleasing), " , 樂 (happy, laugh, music), 姁 (chatter like old woman), 快乐 (Gay, joyful). (various references) | |
Czech | veselý (blithesome, bright, chirpy, convivial, exhilarated, gay, gleeful, happy, high-spirited, hilarious, humorous, jaunty, jocund, jolly, jovial, joyous, light hearted, lively, merry, mirthful, pleasant, rollicking, rorty, sportful, vivacious), radostný (blithe, cheery, exhilarating, festive, glad, gladsome, gleeful, gleesome, good, jolly, joyful, joyous, jubilant, rorty), povzbudivý (comforting, encouraging, heartening, refreshing), jasný (bright, broad, clear, clear-cut, definite, distinct, fair, fresh, live, lucid, overt, pellucid, plain, radiant, serene, sheeny, shinny, straight, sunny, unambiguous, unequivocal, vivid). (various references) | |
Danish | munter (gay, merry), alvorlig (earnest, gay, merry, serious, staid). (various references) | |
Dutch | monter (gay, jaunty, merry), lustig (gay, merry). (various references) | |
Esperanto | gaja (gay, merry). (various references) | |
Faeroese | kátur (adroit, agile, airy-fairy, alert, brisk, frolic, frolicsome, gay, keen, merry, petulant). (various references) | |
Farsi | خوش روی , بشاش (Jocund, Riant, Roseate). (various references) | |
Finnish | iloinen (delighted, gay, merry, pleased). (various references) | |
French | gai (cheery, chirpy), joyeux. (various references) | |
German | fröhlich (blithe, blithesome, bright, brightly, cheerfully, cheerily, festive, gay, gladly, gladsome, gleeful, happily, happy, jauntily, jaunty, jocund, jolly, jovial, jovially, joyous, lighthearted, liltingly, merrily, merry, mirthful, mirthfully, upbeat), heiter (alacritous, amusing, blithe, bright, brightly, buoyant, buoyantly, carefree, cheerfully, cheery, clear, fair, fine, funny, gay, gayly, genially, glad, happily, happy, humorous, humorously, jocund, jovial, jovially, lighthearted, mellow, merry, mirthful, mirthfully, sanguine, serene, sunny, tranquil, untroubled), vergnügt (amuses, blithe, cheerfully, cheerily, enjoyable, gay, gleeful, happily, happy, hilarious, jolly, merrily, merry, pleasant), lustig (amusing, blithe, cheerfully, cheery, droll, frolicsome, funny, gay, happy, hilarious, humorous, jocular, jocularly, jocund, jocundly, jolly, jovial, lazy, merry, pert, sportive), aufgekratzt (boisterous, full of beans, full of vim, in high spirits). (various references) | |
Greek | κεφάτοσ (buoyant, jaunty, jovial, merry), ιλαρόσ, πρόσχαροσ (jolly, jovial), χαρωπόσ (blithesome, boon, cheery, jocund, jolly), χαρούμενοσ (glad, jolly, joyful, merry), φαιδρόσ (blithe, debonair, gay, genial, guy, hilarious, jovial, vivacious, winsome), φαιδρός (gay, hilarious, merry). (various references) | |
Hebrew | משמח (glad, joyful, joyous), שמח (delighted, gay, glad, gleeful, gleesome, happy, jolly, jovial, joyful, joyous, merry, pleased), עליז (blithe, festal, frisky, frolic, frolicsome, gay, hilarious, jocose, jocund, jolly, joyful, light hearted, merry, mirthful, playful, sprightly), עלס (gay, happy, jolly, merry). (various references) | |
Hungarian | vidám (amused, blithe, blithe as a lark, bobbish, chirpy, comic, comical, daft, dashing, droll, exhilarated, felicitous, frisky, frolicsome, gay, glad, gladsome, gleeful, gleesome, hilarious, jaunty, jocose, jocular, jocund, jolly, jovial, joyful, joyous, light hearted, light-hearted, mellow, merry, mirthful, playful, rejoicing, rollicking, sprightly, sunny, to be in high spirits), víg (chirpy, convivial, jocose, jocular, joky, merry, to be in good trim), derűs (genial, jocund, jovial, sunny, unclouded). (various references) | |
Icelandic | glaður (gay, glad, happy, merry), glaðlyndur (gay, merry). (various references) | |
Indonesian | ceria (clean, cleaned, clodless, pure), girang (delightful, elate, glad, happy, merry), gembira (bouncy, breezy, exulant, gay, glad, happy, jolly, merry, rejoice), gayeng (interesting, pleasant, warm). (various references) | |
Italian | allegro (allegro, blithe, blithesome, breezy, bright, buoyant, cheery, frisky, frolicsome, gay, hilarious, jocular, jolly, jovial, joyful, laughing, light hearted, lightsome, lively, merry, mirthful, perky, sportive, sprightly, sunny, wanton). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 明るい (bright). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | たのし' (happy, pleasant), きがるい (buoyant, lighthearted), きがる (buoyant, lighthearted), き"ぜ"たる (joyful), さえざえした (healthy), うきうき (buoyant, cheery, lighthearted), あかるい (bright), めいろう (bright, clear), はればれ (bright). (various references) | |
Korean | 쾌활한 (frisky, jaunty, Playful). (various references) | |
Malay | gembira (gay, merry). (various references) | |
Manx | gennal (amiable, blithe, blithesome, convivial, gay, genial, good-humoured, jocular, jolly, jovial, mirthful), creeoil (hearty, inspiring). (various references) | |
Norwegian | lystig (gay, jolly, merry). (various references) | |
Papiamen | alegre (gay, glad, happy, merry). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | eerfulchay.(various references) | |
Polish | wesoły (gay, merry). (various references) | |
Portuguese | alegre (alive, blithe, blithesome, bonny, boon, breezy, brisk, buoyant, buxom, canty, cheery, chirpy, coltish, convivial, corky, diverting, entertaining, exhilarated, festal, festive, frolicsome, gamesome, gay, glad, gladsome, gleeful, happy, hilarious, holiday, jaunty, jocular, jocund, jolly, jovial, joyful, joyous, jubilant, larksome, laughing, light, light-hearted, lightsome, lively, merry, mirthful, peart, resilient, slaphappy, sportful, sportive, sprightly, tipsy, vivid, volatile, winsome). (various references) | |
Romanian | voios (cheerfully, exhilarated, festival, genial, genially, glad, gleeful, jaunty, jocund, jolly, jovial, joyful, joyous, mellow, merrily, merry, mirthful, saucy), vesel (blithe, blithesome, boon, breezy, bright, cheerfully, cheery, chirpy, convivial, crank, debonair, elastic, feastful, festal, frisky, frolic, frolicsome, full-blooded, gaily, gamesome, gay, genial, glad, gladsome, gleeful, happy, hilarious, in full feather, in high feather, jauntily, jaunty, jocund, jolly, jovial, joyful, joyfully, joyous, lively, mellow, merry, mirthful, playful, pleasant, riant, saucy, sprightly, tails up, wanton), prietenos (amicable, blandly, clubby, companionable, cordial, friendly, kind, kindly, Matey, mellow, mild, mildly, nice, pally, sweet), plãcut (agreeable, comely, dulcet, fine, genial, genially, gladsome, good, goodly, grateful, gratefully, gratifying, handsome, homey, kindly, likable, listenable, merry, neat, nice, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable, smooth, snug, sweet), luminos (bright, brilliant, candent, clear, glorious, glowing, happy, light, lightsome, living, lucent, lucid, luminous, serene), jovial (convivial, jovial, jovially), bucuros (beatific, beatifical, content, delighted, exhilarated, fain, gay, glad, gladly, gratified, lief, merry, mirthful, pleased, readily, thankful, willingly, with a good grace), bine dispus (crank, debonair, full of beans, full-blooded, good humoured, good-humored, in good spirits, jolly, merry, mettlesome, tails up, well disposed), agreabil (agreeable, agreeably, attractive, boon, charming, delightful, enjoyable, genial, genially, good, gratefully, gratifying, nice, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable, smooth-faced). (various references) | |
Russian | бодрый (alive, buoyant, cheery, chipper, erect, fresh, hale and hearty, peppy). (various references) | |
Scottish | cioralta, sulchar, suilbhir (jolly), subhach (merry), aoibhneach (happy, joyful), aobhach (glad, joyous). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | veseo (blithe, blithesome, canty, exuberant, festive, frolic, gay, happy, jocose, jolly, jovial, joyful, joyous, lighthearted, lightsome, lively, merry, mirthful, perky, rejoicing, rollicking), vedar (clear, cloudless, fair, gamesome, light, lighthearted, merry, serene, unclouded), raspoložen (exhilarated, gamesome, good humoured, good-humored, lighthearted, rhapsodic). (various references) | |
Spanish | jovial (cheery, friendly, gay, jolly, jovial, rollicking), animado (alive, animate, animated, buoyed up, busy, chipper, Chirk, chirpy, ebullient, enlivens, freshens, jazzy, lively, pert, sprightly, upbeat, zippy), alegre (airy, blithe, blithesome, boon, breezy, bright, canty, cheery, chipper, Chirk, chirpy, chuffed, contentious, convivial, debonair, felicitous, gamesome, gay, glad, happy, high-spirited, holiday, jaunty, jocose, jolly, joyful, light, light hearted, lightsome, lively, merry, mirthful, perky, pert, playful, pleased, rollicking, sportful, sporty, swinging, upbeat, zappy). (various references) | |
Swedish | gladlynt (gay, good humoured, good-humored, jovial, lightsome, merry, riant), munter (blithe, breezy, cheery, frolic, frolicsome, gay, gleeful, gleesome, hilarious, jocose, jocund, jolly, merry, mirthful, sprightly), glad (bonny, bright, canty, cheery, Chirk, chirpy, debonair, delighted, gay, glad, gladsome, gleeful, gleesome, happy, high, hilarious, jocund, jolly, joyful, joyous, merry, pleased), glättig (gay, jocund, light hearted). (various references) | |
Turkish | neşeli (airy, animate, animated, blithe, boon, breezy, bright, bucked, buoyant, buoyed up, cheerfully, cheery, chirpy, cock-a-hoop, debonair, debonaire, easygoing, eupeptic, exhilarated, fit as a fiddle, full of beans, gamesome, gay, genial, gleeful, high, hilarious, jocund, jolly, jovial, joyful, joyous, lively, merry, merrymaking, mirthful, perky, rambunctious, rollicking, slaphappy, spirited, sportive, sprightly, sunny, upbeat, vivacious), neşelendirici (exhilarating, heartening, upliftintg), neşe saçan (cheerfully, cheery), mutluluk veren (blessed), keyifli (blissful, bucked, cheerfully, cheery, cosy, delighted, elevated, fit as a fiddle, gay, in a good mood, jolly, jovial, merry, pleasant, pleased, rejoicing, up), istekli (agog, ambitious, anxious, applicant, aspirant, athirst for, covetous, dead set, desirous, devout, disposed, eager, enthusiastic, forward, full of zeal, hellbent, inclinable, inclined, intense, intent, itching, itchy, keen, minded, ready, solicitous, strong, thirsty, voracious, willing, wishful, wistful), içten gelen (cheerfully, heartfelt, spontaneous), şen (blithe, breezy, cheery, convivial, eupeptic, frolicsome, gay, gleeful, jaunty, jocund, jolly, merry, merrymaking, mirthful, sportive). (various references) | |
Turkmen | юagalaсly (gay), mes (gay, merry). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | що робить бадьоро, веселий (airy, blithe, boon, breezy, bright, canty, cavalier, cheery, chipper, chirpy, convivial, debonair, exhilarated, gay, happy go lucky, jolly, jovial, merry, mirthful, perky, pleasant, rackety, sportful, sunny), безжурний (airy, easygoing, light hearted, lightsome), бадьорий (alive, alive and kicking, bobbish, cheery, chipper, sprightly). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | vui mừng (glad, gladsome, joyful, joyous), tươi cười vui mắt; vui vẻ vui lòng, sẵn lòng (willingly), phấn khởi; hớn hở. (various references) | |
Welsh | llawen (blithe, gay, glad, joyful, merry). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | alacer, alacri, hilarem, hilarior, hilaris, hilariter, laeti, laetum, laetus, libens, libentissime, sereno, serenum. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 15, Verse 13 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | KardiaV eufrainomenhV proswpon qallei en de lupaiV oushV skuqrwpazei |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Cor gaudens exhilarat faciem in maerore animi deicitur spiritus |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | The ioyende herte maketh out gladsum the face; in mornyng of inwit shal be throwe doun the spirit. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | A glad heart makes a shining face, but by the sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 15, Verse 13 |
| Cebuano | ¶ Ang malipayong kasingkasing nagapadayag sa usa ka masayag nga panagway; Apan tungod sa kasubo sa kasingkasing ang espiritu mamaluya. |
| Croatian | Veselo srce razvedrava lice, a bol u srcu tjeskoba je duhu. |
| Danish | Glad Hjerte giver venligt Ansigt, ved Hjertesorg bliver Modet brudt. |
| Dutch | Een vrolijk hart zal het aangezicht blijde maken; maar door de smart des harten wordt de geest verslagen. |
| Finnish | Iloinen sydän kaunistaa kasvot, mutta sydämen tuskassa on mieli murtunut. |
| French | Un coeur joyeux rend le visage serein; Mais quand le coeur est triste, l`esprit est abattu. |
| German | Ein fröhlich Herz macht ein fröhlich Angesicht; aber wenn das Herz bekümmert ist, so fällt auch der Mut. |
| Haitian Creole | ¶ Lè kè ou kontan, yo wè sa sou figi ou. Lè ou nan lapenn, ou kagou. |
| Hungarian | A vidám elme megvidámítja az orczát; de a szívnek bánatja miatt a lélek megszomorodik. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Hati yang gembira membuat muka berseri-seri; hati yang sedih mematahkan semangat. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Hati yang bersukacita memaniskan muka, tetapi percintaan dalam hati menindihkan nyawa. |
| Italian | Un cuore lieto rende ilare il volto, ma, quando il cuore è triste, lo spirito è depresso. |
| Maori | ¶ Ma te koa o te ngakau ka pai ai te mata: ma te pouri ia o te ngakau ka maru ai te wairua. |
| Norwegian | Et glad hjerte gjør åsynet lyst, men hjertesorg bryter motet ned. |
| Portuguese | O coração alegre aformoseia o rosto; mas pela dor do coração o espírito se abate. |
| Rumanian | O inimq veselq knsenineazq faya; dar cknd inima este tristq, duhul este mkhnit. - |
| Russian | чЕУЕМПЕ УЕТ""Е "ЕМБЕФ МЙ"Е ЧЕУЕМЩН, Б ТЙ УЕТ"ЕЮОПК УЛПТ'Й "ХИ ХОЩЧБЕФ. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "cheerful": cheerfuller, cheerfullest, cheerfully, cheerfulness, cheerfulnesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Cheerful" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cearful, cheerfull, cheerfuly, chelful, chevreuil, churnful. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "cheerful" (pronounced khi"rful) |
| 5 | -i" r f u l | fearful, tearful. |
| 4 | -r f u l | careful, prayerful. |
| 3 | -f u l | apocryphal, artful, awful, baffle, baleful, bashful, beautiful, blissful, boastful, bountiful, colorful, deceitful, delightful, disdainful, disgraceful, disrespectful, distasteful, distrustful, doleful, doubtful, dreadful, duffel, dutiful, eventful, faithful, falafel, fanciful, fateful, fistful, fitful, flavorful, forceful, forgetful, fretful, frightful, fruitful, gainful, gleeful, graceful, grateful, harmful, hateful, healthful, helpful, hopeful, houseful, hurtful, sorrowful, soulful, spiteful, stifle, stressful, successful, suspenseful, tactful, tasteful, thankful, insightful, joyful, kerfuffle, lawful, lustful, masterful, meaningful, merciful, mindful, mistrustful, mournful, muffle, needful, neglectful, painful, panful, peaceful, pitiful, playful, plentiful, powerful, purposeful, raffle, regretful, remorseful, resentful, reshuffle, resourceful, respectful, restful, riffle, rifle, rightful, rueful, ruffle, scornful, scuffle, shameful, shuffle, sinful, skillful, thoughtful, trifle, triumphal, truffle, truthful, tuneful, uneventful, unfaithful, ungrateful, unhealthful, unhelpful, unlawful, unsuccessful, untruthful, useful, vengeful, waffle, wasteful, watchful, willful, wishful, wistful, woeful, wonderful, worshipful, wrongful, youthful, zestful. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-e-f-h-l-r-u" | |
-2 letters: euchre, ferule, fleche, fleech, fueler, lecher, refuel. | |
-3 letters: cheer, churl, creel, cruel, fleer, leech, lucre, lurch, refel, ruche, ulcer. | |
-4 letters: cere, chef, clef, clue, cure, curf, curl, eche, ecru, feel, fere, flee, flue, free, fuel, furl, heel, here, herl, hurl, lech, leer, lehr, luce, lure, reef, reel, rule. | |
-5 letters: cee, cel, cue, cur, ecu. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-e-f-h-l-r-u" | |
+2 letters: cheerfully. | |
+3 letters: cheerfuller. | |
+4 letters: cheerfullest, cheerfulness. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Fiction 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Quotations: Speeches | 13. Usage Frequency 14. Expressions 15. Expressions: Internet 16. Translations: Modern | 17. Translations: Ancient 18. Bible Trace 19. Derivations 20. Rhymes | 21. Anagrams 22. Bibliography |
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