Dictionary

joviality en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /d͡ʒoʊviˈælɪti/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from French jovialité.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The state of being jovial; jollity or conviviality.
   • This remark sobered the father’s joviality, and brought his mind to business. 1881, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter 10, in The Prince and the Pauper: A Tale for Young People of All Ages, Montreal, Que.: Dawson Brothers, →OCLC:
   • Success on social media tends to instil in the early career academics and postgraduates who achieve it, after merciless encouragement from outreach and impact gurus in HE management, a kind of unwavering, po-faced self-belief in their own genius and thus the vital urgency of their research, the overall effect being a strange mixture of corporate cynicism and uneasy joviality. 2014 November 6, Benjamin Poore, “Carry on campus: The satirical needling deflates the high-minded ideals of the groves of academy”, in The Independent:
   • 1651, Fulgenzio Micanzio, The Life of the Most Learned Father Paul, Of the Order of the Servie, translator not credited, London: Humphrey Moseley and Richard Marriot, p. 13, The Duke […] willingly interposed the pleasures of wit and facetiousnesse with the grave cares of his government, tempering wisely his troubles with Joviality of words and actions […]
   • Joviality fled from the table, Shekhar studied his cards. Owad frowned at his. His foot was tapping on the concrete floor. More watchers came. 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part Two, Chapter 6:
   • I noticed that Mr. Pumblechook in his hospitality appeared to forget that he had made a present of the wine, but took the bottle from Mrs. Joe and had all the credit of handing it about in a gush of joviality. 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter V, in Great Expectations […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC:
   • By the joviality of their insults Babbitt knew that he had been taken back to their hearts, and happily he rose. 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XXIV, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, section IV:

Forms

Synonyms

felicity · glee · high spirits · exuberance · gayfulness · delightedness · merriment · joy · jolliness · joviality · exuberantness · gleefulness · blitheness · contentedness · elation · elatedness · jovialness · jollity · cheeriness · joyousness · jolliness · joyfulness · merriness · contentness · jovialness · delight · mirth · mirthfulness · gladness · hilarity · gayness · gaiety · blithesomeness · gladsomeness · pleasedness · liss · happiness · gleesomeness · cheerfulness

Translations (13)

fr jovialité (Condition of being jovial) · bg веселост (Condition of being jovial) · pt jovialidade (Condition of being jovial) · it giovialità (Condition of being jovial) · nl jovialiteit (Condition of being jovial) · sv jovialitet (Condition of being jovial) · ka სიმხიარულე (Condition of being jovial) · ga meidhir (Condition of being jovial) · sw ukunjufu (Condition of being jovial) · es jovialidad (Condition of being jovial) · ka მხიარულება (Condition of being jovial) · bg общителност (Condition of being jovial) · ro jovialitate (Condition of being jovial)