felicity
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /fɪˈlɪsɪti/
ipa: /fəˈlɪsəti/
ipa: [-ɾi]
rhymes: -ɪsɪti
Forms: form: felicities
Etymology: From Middle English felicite (“bliss, happiness, joy; delight, pleasure; a source of happiness; good fortune; prosperity; well-being; of a planet: in an influential position”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French felicité (modern French félicité (“bliss, happiness; felicity”)), from Latin fēlīcitātem, the accusative singular of fēlīcitās (“fertility, fruitfulness; happiness, felicity; good fortune; success”), from fēlix (“happy; blessed, fortunate, lucky; fertile, fruitful; prosperous; auspicious, favourable”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to nurse, suckle”)) + -itās (a variant of -tās (suffix forming nouns indicating a state of being)).
Senses: examples: text: Whan this ſayd monument diſcouered was / Suche a ſuauite and fragrant odoure / Aſcended from the corps by ſingular grace / Paſſyng all worldly ſwetnes and ſauour / That all there present that day and hour / Suppoſed they had ben / in the felicite / Of erthely paradiſe / without ambiguite.
ref: 1513, Henry Bradshaw, edited by Edward Hawkins, The Holy Lyfe and History of Saynt Werburge: Very Frutefull for All Christen People to Rede (Remains Historical & Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester Published by The Chetham Society; volume XV), […] The Chetham Society, published 1848:
text: [T]he wiſe Man gave his Teſtimony to this, as the juſt Standard of true Felicity, when he prayed to have neither Poverty nor Riches.
ref: 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 3:
text: […] Mr. and Mrs. Norris began their career of conjugal felicity with very little less than a thousand a year.
ref: 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 2:
text: For two reasons then it is right to be content with that which happens to thee; the one, because it was done for thee and prescribed for thee, and in a manner had reference to thee, originally from the most ancient causes spun with thy destiny; and the other, because even that which comes severally to every man is to the power which administers the universe a cause of felicity and perfection, nay even of its very continuance.
ref: 1862, M[arcus] Aurelius Antoninus [i.e., Marcus Aurelius], “Book V”, in George Long, transl., The Thoughts of the Emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus, London: Bell and Daldy, […], →OCLC, page 66:
synonyms: word: joy
word: mirth
word: blitheness
word: blithesomeness
word: cheerfulness
word: cheeriness
word: contentness
word: contentedness
word: delight
word: delightedness
word: elatedness
word: elation
word: exuberance
word: exuberantness
word: felicity
word: gaiety
word: gayness
word: gayfulness
word: gladness
word: gladsomeness
word: glee
word: gleefulness
word: gleesomeness
word: happiness
word: high spirits
word: hilarity
word: jolliness
word: jollity
word: joviality
word: jovialness
word: joy
word: joyfulness
word: joyousness
word: liss
word: merriment
word: merriness
word: mirth
word: mirthfulness
word: pleasedness
antonyms: infelicity
glosses: Happiness; (countable) an instance of this.
glosses: An apt and pleasing style in speech, writing, etc.; (countable) an apt and pleasing choice of words.
synonyms: word: good fortune
word: fortuity
word: felicity
word: fortune
word: fortuitousness
word: fortuity
word: good fortune
word: good luck
word: happiness
word: luck
word: luck of the Irish
glosses: Good luck; success; (countable) An instance of unexpected good luck; a stroke of luck; also, a lucky characteristic.
examples: text: The quotation was rendered with felicity.
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
semiotics
glosses: Reproduction of a sign with fidelity.
examples: text: […] to weare our ſelues & neuer reſt,
Untill we reach the ripeſt fruites of all,
That perfect bliſſe and ſole felicitie,
The ſweet fruition of an earthly crowne.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:
text: The season’s main attraction, the felicities of the sun, dimmed in the light of our competition and our growing friendliness.
ref: 2007 August 7, Joshua Ferris, “Table for two”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 Dec 2020:
glosses: Something that is either a source of happiness or particularly apt.
examples: text: In equation (19.24) U#95;C(#92;cdot) is the marginal felicity of consumption[.]
ref: 2017, Ben J. Heidra, Foundations of Modern Macroeconomics, third edition, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 756:
topics: economics
sciences
glosses: Period (as opposed to lifetime) utility.
Derived terms: felicitous
felicitously
infelicity
unfelicity
Related terms: felicific
felicificability
felicificative
felicitate
felicitation
felicitator