CHEERFULNESS

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being cheerful and dispelling gloom

Example:

flowers added a note of cheerfulness to the drab room

Synonyms:

cheer; cheerfulness; sunniness; sunshine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("cheerfulness" is a kind of...):

attribute (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of an entity)

Attribute:

cheerful (being full of or promoting cheer; having or showing good spirits)

cheerless; depressing; uncheerful (causing sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cheerfulness"):

good-humoredness; good-humouredness; good-naturedness; good-temperedness (a cheerful willingness to be obliging)

Holonyms ("cheerfulness" is a part of...):

disposition; temperament (your usual mood)

Antonym:

uncheerfulness (not conducive to cheer or good spirits)

Derivation:

cheerful (being full of or promoting cheer; having or showing good spirits)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A feeling of spontaneous good spirits

Example:

his cheerfulness made everyone feel better

Synonyms:

blitheness; cheerfulness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("cheerfulness" is a kind of...):

happiness (emotions experienced when in a state of well-being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cheerfulness"):

buoyancy; perkiness (cheerfulness that bubbles to the surface)

carefreeness; insouciance; lightheartedness; lightsomeness (the cheerful feeling you have when nothing is troubling you)

Antonym:

cheerlessness (a feeling of dreary or pessimistic sadness)

Derivation:

cheerful (pleasantly (even unrealistically) optimistic)

Credits

Context examples:

After the first fortnight or three weeks of her absence, health, good humour, and cheerfulness began to reappear at Longbourn.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Yet I confess that there was no particular call for cheerfulness on their part.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I swore and subscribed to these articles with great cheerfulness and content, although some of them were not so honourable as I could have wished; which proceeded wholly from the malice of Skyresh Bolgolam, the high-admiral: whereupon my chains were immediately unlocked, and I was at full liberty.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Want of exercise robs them of cheerfulness, and too much devotion to that idol of American women, the teapot, makes them feel as if they were all nerve and no muscle.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The simplicity and cheerfulness of her nature, her contented and grateful spirit, were a recommendation to every body, and a mine of felicity to herself.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

To confess the truth, said Mrs Smith, assuming her usual air of cheerfulness, that is exactly the pleasure I want you to have.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

There seemed a general diffusion of cheerfulness on the occasion.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The gentle cheerfulness of Agnes went to all their hearts.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

When we met at early breakfast there was more general cheerfulness than any of us had ever expected to experience again.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

In seasons of cheerfulness, no temper could be more cheerful than hers, or possess, in a greater degree, that sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself.