Dictionary

delightful en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio
• /dəˈlaɪt.fl̩/

Etymology

From Middle English deliteful, delitfull, equivalent to delight + -ful.

Meanings

1. Pleasant; pleasing, bringing enjoyment, satisfaction, or pleasure.
   • What? a higher delight to be drawn from the sight / Of fish full of life and of glee? / What a noodle you are! ’tis delightfuller far / To kill them than let them go free! 1853, Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “The Two Brothers”, in Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, editor, The Lewis Carroll Picture Book […], London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1899, →OCLC, page 22:
   • Hon. Collier Weekly which furnish Japanese Schoolboy to public not often enough, when is his book coming out? […] That Boy is the dearest & sweetest & frankest & wisest & funniest & delightfulest & lovablest creation that has been added to our literature for a long time. Benjamin Griffin, Harriet Elinor Smith, editors (2015), “Explanatory Notes”, in Autobiography of Mark Twain (The Mark Twain Papers), volume 3, Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 599
   • An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed 'to save notepaper') and enter into the delightful pastime of 'a chicken from Mr Whiteley's'. 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins, →ISBN:
   • That is what I plan to do at Yahoo: give the end user something valuable and delightful that makes them want to come to Yahoo every day. 2013 December 11, Megan Garber, quoting Marissa Mayer, “Is ‘Delightful’ the New ‘Cool’?”, in The Atlantic:
   • Congratulations on that delightful absurdity about Nimzovitch[.] 1951 July, A. W. Marschner, “Readers' Forum”, in Chess Review:
   • O, Joy! quicker than fire! O, Hope of things! / O, gracious gladness mighty with delight! / O, subtle sweet, delightfuler than might! / Ah, me, no fiercer laughing unction springs / From the fair Hope of things! 1888, Venier Voldo, “Memoria in Eterna”, in Poems from the Pacific: The West’s Reply to England’s Laureate, 2nd edition, San Francisco, Calif.: The Bancroft Company, →OCLC, page 134:

Forms

Deriveds

delightfulness · delightfully · undelightful

Synonyms

delectable · delicious

Translations (46)

de angenehm (pleasant; pleasing) · ja 愉快な (pleasant; pleasing) · ga caithiseach (pleasant; pleasing) · cs nádherný (pleasant; pleasing) · fr délicieux (pleasant; pleasing) · es deleitoso (pleasant; pleasing) · ru восхити́тельный (pleasant; pleasing) · fa دلپسند (pleasant; pleasing) · cs lahodný (pleasant; pleasing) · fi miellyttävä (pleasant; pleasing) · ar بَهِيج (pleasant; pleasing) · sa रम्य (pleasant; pleasing) · hi सुखद (pleasant; pleasing) · fi ilahduttava (pleasant; pleasing) · ca encantador (pleasant; pleasing) · eo rava (pleasant; pleasing) · de entzückend (pleasant; pleasing) · cs krásný (pleasant; pleasing) · grc τερπνός (pleasant; pleasing) · cs rozkošný (pleasant; pleasing) · bg възхитителен (pleasant; pleasing) · cmn 愉快 (pleasant; pleasing) · ko 매우 기쁜 (pleasant; pleasing) · ro delicios (pleasant; pleasing) · ru прия́тный (pleasant; pleasing) · ja 楽しい (pleasant; pleasing) · ru очарова́тельный (pleasant; pleasing) · la voluptuosus (pleasant; pleasing) · bcl masanggaya (pleasant; pleasing) · fa دلپذیر (pleasant; pleasing) · hi सुखदायक (pleasant; pleasing) · cs příjemný (pleasant; pleasing) · fro delitable (pleasant; pleasing) · et rõõmustav (pleasant; pleasing) · de reizvoll (pleasant; pleasing) · gl deleitoso (pleasant; pleasing) · ga taitneamhach (pleasant; pleasing) · hi सुखदायी (pleasant; pleasing) · gl deleitábel (pleasant; pleasing) · fi ihana (pleasant; pleasing) · grc θυμήρης (pleasant; pleasing) · cmn 嫵媚 /妩媚 (pleasant; pleasing) · la iūcundus (pleasant; pleasing) · az fərəhli (pleasant; pleasing) · es deleitable (pleasant; pleasing) · hi मनोरम (pleasant; pleasing)