| / English Dictionary |
CHEERFUL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Being full of or promoting cheer; having or showing good spirits
Example:
as cheerful as anyone confined to a hospital bed could be
Classified under:
Similar:
beaming; glad (cheerful and bright)
beamish; smiling; twinkly (smiling with happiness or optimism)
blithe; blithesome; light-hearted; lighthearted; lightsome (carefree and happy and lighthearted)
buoyant; chirpy; perky (characterized by liveliness and lightheartedness)
cheery; gay; sunny (bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer)
chipper; debonair; debonaire; jaunty (having a cheerful, lively, and self-confident air)
Also:
happy (enjoying or showing or marked by joy or pleasure)
glad (showing or causing joy and pleasure; especially made happy)
Attribute:
cheer; cheerfulness; sunniness; sunshine (the quality of being cheerful and dispelling gloom)
Antonym:
depressing (causing sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy)
Derivation:
cheerfulness (the quality of being cheerful and dispelling gloom)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Pleasantly (even unrealistically) optimistic
Synonyms:
cheerful; pollyannaish; upbeat
Classified under:
Similar:
optimistic (expecting the best in this best of all possible worlds)
Derivation:
cheerfulness (a feeling of spontaneous good spirits)
Context examples:
They were stiff with their long and jolting drive from Whitcross, and chilled with the frosty night air; but their pleasant countenances expanded to the cheerful firelight.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The two men, however, were quite cheerful.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
Then came a picture of a cheerful and corpulent ecclesiastic in a shovel hat, sitting opposite a very thin European, and the inscription: "Lunch with Fra Cristofero at Rosario."
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Jane was therefore obliged to go on horseback, and her mother attended her to the door with many cheerful prognostics of a bad day.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Glowing and lovely in sensibility and happiness, and more generally admired than she thought about or cared for, she had cheerful or forbearing feelings for every creature around her.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
For once, Miss Dashwood—it will be the last time, perhaps—let us be cheerful together.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Felix replied in a cheerful accent, and the old man was recommencing his music when someone tapped at the door.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Mr. Knightley had a cheerful manner, which always did him good; and his many inquiries after “poor Isabella” and her children were answered most satisfactorily.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Her employers had all been in excellent spirits lately, and she had never known them more cheerful and prosperous.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A very cheerful wood-fire was sputtering and cracking in an open grate at the further end of the apartment.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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