happy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈhæp.i/
rhymes: -æpi
Forms: form: happier
form: more happy
form: happiest
form: most happy
form: happie
Etymology: From Middle English happy (“fortunate, happy”), perhaps an alteration of Middle English happyn, happen (“fortunate, happy”), possibly related to or from Old Norse heppinn (“fortunate, happy”); and potentially assimilated to be equivalent to hap (“chance, luck, fortune”) + -y. Compare also Icelandic heppinn (“lucky”), Faroese heppin (“fortunate, lucky, happy”), Norwegian Nynorsk heppen (“lucky”), Scots happin (“fortunate, blessed”). See further at hap.
Senses: examples: text: Music makes me feel happy.
text: Happye are thy men, and happie are these thy seruantes[…]
ref: 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, II. Cronicles ix:[7], folio xcv, recto, column 1:
text: Happy is that people that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 144:15:
text: For the moſt happy univerſe is not one that conſiſts of the greateſt poſſible number of the moſt happy beings only ;[…]
ref: 1731, Thomas Bayes, Divine Benevolence, London, page 73:
text: Whate’er the Paſſion, Knowledge, Fame, or Pelf,
Not one will change his Neighbour with himſelf.
The Learn’d are happy, Nature to explore ;
The Fool is happy, that he knows no more ;
The Rich are happy in the plenty given ;
The Poor contents him with the Care of Heaven.
ref: 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle II, London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 17:
text: But since the happy are sufficient to themselves they have no need of friends; and hence it is said,
ref: 1807, “That the Happy Man has Need of Worthy Friends”, in William Bridgman, transl., The Paraphrase of an Anonymous Greek Writer, (hitherto Published Under the Name of Andronicus Rhodius) on the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, London: Charles Whittingham, →OCLC, book IX, page 415:
text: While they are in this state striving perhaps to render their fellow beings more happy, of whatever sect or denomination they may be, they meet with one or more persons who undertake to convert their mere cold belief in religious doctrines—which is at best little better than mere morality—into real effective religion, a religion that will move the tongue.
ref: 1829, Charles Knowlton, “On the Passions”, in Elements of Modern Materialism: Inculcating the Idea of a Future State, in which All Will be More Happy, under whatever Circumstances They May be Placed than if They Experienced No Misery in this Life, Adams: A. Oakey, →OCLC, page 324:
text: A happy birthday to you,
A happy birthday to you,
A happy birthday, dear Roy,
A happy birthday to you.
ref: 1901, Edith Goodyear Alger, “Roy’s Birthday”, in A Primer of Work and Play, Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, →OCLC, page 49:
text: In different ways, therefore, for many pupils, whether they benefit greatly from the system, or just 'get by', or are 'bored stiff' by the lessons, or for the most part are completely rebellious, schooldays do often appear to be 'the happiest days'.
ref: 1990, Peter Woods, “Laughing at School”, in The Happiest Days?: How Pupils Cope With Schools, Basingstoke: The Falmer Press, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 182:
text: Because I’m happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do
ref: 2013 November 21, Pharrell Williams, “Happy”, in Girl, performed by Pharrell Williams:
text: People who believe that a better life awaits us after this one would appear to have secured a happier ending, even before they come close to the end. There is little to be afraid of if you're armed with the promise of a wonderful future. Death is only a portal to greater joy.
ref: 2014, Erica Brown, “Pondering the Afterlife”, in Happier Endings: A Meditation on Life and Death, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 49:
synonyms: cheerful
content
delighted
elated
exultant
glad
joyful
jubilant
merry
antonyms: word: blue
word: depressed
word: down
word: miserable
word: moody
word: morose
word: sad
word: unhappy
word: blissed out
word: blissful
word: cock-a-hoop
word: content
word: delighted
word: ecstatic
word: elated
word: excited
word: exultant
word: gay
word: glad
word: gleeful
word: happy
word: jovial
word: joyful
word: on cloud nine
word: overjoyed
word: over the moon
word: pacific
word: perky
word: placated
word: pleased
word: satisfied
word: thrilled
word: tickled pink
word: triumphant
glosses: Having a feeling arising from a consciousness of well-being or of enjoyment; enjoying good of any kind, such as comfort, peace, or tranquillity; blissful, contented, joyous.
examples: text: […] I think I may presume that what I have hitherto Diſcourſed will induce you to think, that Chymists have been much more happy in finding Experiments than the Cauſes of them; or in aſſigning the Principles by which they may beſt be explain’d.
ref: 1661, Robert Boyle, “The Conclusion”, in The Sceptical Chymist, London: J. Cadwell, →OCLC, page 429:
text: The UK’s earliest reactors – a type called Magnox – were set up to harvest plutonium for bombs; the electricity was a happy byproduct.
ref: 2022 December 15, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian:
synonyms: word: fortunate
word: lucky
word: propitious
word: fortuitous
word: fortunate
word: freak
word: happy
word: lucky
word: providential
word: serendipitous
word: sonsy
antonyms: unfortunate
unlucky
unpropitious
glosses: Experiencing the effect of favourable fortune; favored by fortune or luck; fortunate, lucky, propitious.
examples: text: How fares it with the happy dead?
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 66:
synonyms: word: fortunate
word: lucky
word: propitious
word: fortuitous
word: fortunate
word: freak
word: happy
word: lucky
word: providential
word: serendipitous
word: sonsy
antonyms: unfortunate
unlucky
unpropitious
glosses: Experiencing the effect of favourable fortune; favored by fortune or luck; fortunate, lucky, propitious.
Elect or saved after death, blessed.
examples: text: Are you happy to pay me back by the end of the week?
text: Yes, I am happy with the decision.
text: A Christian may be happier in low circumstances, than in high ones. He may be happier without rich friends, than with them. He may be happier in loneliness, than in a crowd of flatterers. He may be happier under reproach, than when riding on the spring-tide of popularity. He may be happier with hard work, than in a life of ease. He may be happier with coarse and scanty food, than with tables of luxury. He may be happier in sickness and persecution, than in health and quietness.
ref: 1844, “Patience and Perseverance”, in Joseph Barker, editor, The Christian, volume 1, number 14, London: Chapman, →OCLC, page 314:
text: A strong acid is also a substance whose conjugate base (obviously a weak base) is quite happy with the excess electrons it got from that bond.
ref: 2007, Iver David Reingold, “Substitution Reactions”, in Organic Chemistry, or, “The Happy Carbon”: An Introduction Emphasizing Biological Connections, Delhi: Indo American Books, →ISBN, page 308:
text: This wave of "financial innovation" led to rapid growth in subprime lending, which was enhanced on the demand side by the housing boom and general asset price bubble. While the party lasted everyone was happy. Mortgage lenders were happy to lend and keep subprime loans off their books via securitization. Issuers of ABSs were happy to get their commissions. Borrowers were happy to get loans without scrutiny. Investors were happy to acquire assets that were "risk-free" and offered a return of hundreds of basis points over that offered by US Treasuries.
ref: 2016, Imad A. Moosa, “The Post-crisis Regulatory Landscape: An Overview”, in Contemporary Issues in the Post-crisis Regulatory Landscape, Singapore: World Scientific, →ISBN, page 8:
synonyms: pleased
antonyms: disenchanted
dissatisfied
glosses: Content, willing, satisfied (with or to do something); having no objection (to something).
examples: text: happy coincidence
text: The common privilege of your ſex affords you the happy opportunity of alleviating your ſorrows by communicating your ſentiments and feelings to some faithful friend; but to women, even this relief is rigidly denied, and, bound by the harſh reſtraints which the delicacy and reſerve of female natures have impoſed, I muſt bear the ſecret of my ſorrows with painful ſilence.
ref: 1792, James Thomson, “Letter XXXI. From the Hon. Miss Wilton to Mr. Benfield.”, in The Denial; or, The Happy Retreat, 2nd corr. edition, volume 1, London, →OCLC, page 185:
text: You would, even by this most favourable result, be at best only replaced in the situation, and restored to the happy opportunity which you at present possess:[…]
ref: 1804, [James Stephen], The Opportunity; or, Reasons for an Immediate Alliance with St. Domingo, London: Charles Whittingham, →OCLC, page 101:
text: "Historians, you think," said Miss Tilney, "are not happy in their flights of fancy. They display imagination without raising interest. […]"
ref: 1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter XIV, in Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC, page 256:
text: When happy events coincide, that is a happy coincidence. But the coincidence of baneful events is a happy coincidence too.
ref: 1990, Jean Baudrillard, translated by Chris Turner, Cool Memories, London; New York, N.Y.: Verso Books, →ISBN, page 138:
text: ‘I had the happy notion of adding an egg,’ Williams shouted back. ‘It poaches in the soup. Not unlike an Italian stracciatella. Singularly toothsome.[…]’
ref: 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 41:
antonyms: inappropriate
inapt
unfelicitous
qualifier: Of acts; speech; Of acts; speech
glosses: Appropriate, apt, felicitous.
examples: text: slaphappy, trigger-happy
text: We live in a sue-happy society. If Santa slides off your roof and busts his tailbone, he could sue you, and probably will.
ref: 2002, Dan Benson, “Stupid Mistake #9: Following Fads vs. Staying the Course”, in 12 Stupid Mistakes People Make with Their Money, Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 128:
text: “Baby, I was a loser / Several years on the dole / An Englishman with a very high voice / Doing rock ’n’ roll,” sings falsetto-happy frontman Justin Hawkins at the start of “Every Inch Of You,” Hot Cakes’ opener.
ref: 2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes [music review]”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 24 Aug 2012:
glosses: Favoring or inclined to use.
examples: text: For inſtance, one lady can give an anſwer better than aſk a queſtion: one gentleman is happy at a reply; another excels in a rejoinder: one can revive a languiſhing converſation by a ſudden ſurpriſing ſentence; another is more dextrous in ſeconding; a third can fill the gap with laughing, or commending what has been ſaid.
ref: 1761, Simon Wagstaff [pseudonym; Jonathan Swift], A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, Edinburgh, introduction, page iii:
glosses: Dexterous, ready, skilful.
raw_tags: followed by "at" or "in"
of people
examples: text: Happy birthday!
text: Happy Fourth of July!
text: Happy anniversary!
text: Happy job-hunting!
glosses: Implying “May you have a happy ⁓” or similar; used in phrases to wish someone happiness or good fortune at the time of a festival, celebration, or other event or activity.
Synonyms: word: berserk
word: blissed out
word: blithe
word: buoyant
word: blithesome
word: bonnie
word: bright
word: cheerful
word: cheerly
word: cheery
word: chuffed
word: cock-a-hoop
word: content
word: contented
word: convivial
word: delighted
word: ebullient
word: ecstatic
word: elated
word: euphoric
word: excited
word: exhilarated
word: exuberant
word: exultant
word: fat and happy
word: gassed
word: gay
word: gayful
word: glad
word: gladsome
word: gleeful
word: gleesome
word: happy
word: hearty
word: high on life
word: jovial
word: joyful
word: merry
word: merry as a cricket
word: merry as a grig
word: mirthsome
word: on cloud nine
word: overjoyed
word: overjoyous
word: over the moon
word: pacific
word: perky
word: placated
word: pleased
word: satisfied
word: thrilled
word: tickled pink
word: triumphant
word: vivacious
word: wealful
word: happy as a clam
word: happy as a clam at high water
word: happy as a lark
word: happy as a pig in mud
word: happy as a pig in shit
word: happy as a prince
word: happy as Larry
word: happy as the day is long
Hypernyms: word: emotional
word: emotionful
Hyponyms: word: blissful
Coordinate terms: word: self-satisfied
word: smug
Derived terms: as happy as a pig in mud
belated happy birthday
dance-happy
demob-happy
fat and happy
First Happy Time
flag-happy
gate-happy
get happy
gun-happy
happification
happify
happiless
happily
happiness
happy 4th
happy as a box of birds
happy as a clam
happy as a clam at high water
happy as a jaybird
happy as a lark
happy as a pig in mud
happy as a pig in shit
happy as a possum up a gum tree
happy as a prince
happy as a sandboy
happy as Larry
happy belated birthday
happy birthday
happy birthday in heaven
happy bunny
happy button
happy camper
happy chappy
happy clapper
happy-clappy
happycore
happy corner
happy days
happy day scenario
happy despatch
happy dispatch
happy Easter
happy ending
happy ever after
happy families
happy Fourth
happy gas
happy-go-lucky
Happy Hallow
happy Halloween
happy Hanukkah
happy hardcore
happy holidays
happy hour
happy hunting ground
happy Independence Day
happyish
Happy Jack
happy Kwanzaa
happy landing
happy landings
happy little vegemite
happy meal
happy medium
Happy Merchant
happy New Year
happy number
happyologist
happyology
happy panda
happy path
happy pill
happy place
happy puppet syndrome
happy sack
happy slap
happy slapper
happy slapping
happy snap
happy talk
happy Thanksgiving
Happy Time
happy to see someone
happy trail
happy trails
happy Valentine's Day
happy vowel
I hope you're happy
many happies
many happy returns
mishappiness
mishappy
nonhappy
not happy, Jan
one big happy family
overhappy
rock happy
Second Happy Time
semihappy
slap happy
slaphappy
slap-happy
snap-happy
space-happy
trigger happy
trigger-happy
you happy jiu OK
you will own nothing and be happy
Related terms: word: lucky
word: pleasure