Synonyms for happiness
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Noun
1. Joy — the emotion of being happy; joy; elation
joy, enjoyment, bliss, blessedness, cheerfulness, pleasure, elation, satisfaction, gladness, merriment, joyfulness, mirth, delight, comfort, beatitude, ecstasy, heaven, cheer, jollity, glee, exuberance, rapture
2. Contentment — prosperity, thriving, wellbeing
Other
triumph, brightness, wale, contentedness, fortuity rare
Definitions
- n. 1
The emotion of being happy; joy; elation.
bring happiness to others
- n. 2
Prosperity, thriving, wellbeing.
Forms
- Plural
- happinesses → joys, enjoyments, blisses, blessednesses…
Choose the right word
Happiness is the positively agreeable experience that springs from the possession of good, the gratification or satisfaction of the desires or the relief from pain and evil. Felicity is a philosophical term, colder and more formal than happiness.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- joy Everyone shouted for joy when they heard the news.
- enjoyment Enjoyment drives my choices, not financial gain.
- bliss Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.
- triumph The host country's triumph has a seismic effect.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| happiness | rising | |
| joy | rising | |
| enjoyment | steady | |
| bliss | rising | |
| blessedness | rising | |
| triumph | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- joy1
- 4 letters
- glee1, wale1
- 5 letters
- cheer1, bliss1, mirth1
- 6 letters
- heaven2
- 7 letters
- comfort2, welfare2, delight2, triumph2, ecstasy3, rapture2, elation3, jollity
- 8 letters
- pleasure2, gladness, fortuity
- 9 letters
- enjoyment3, merriment, beatitude
- 10 letters
- prosperity4, brightness2, exuberance4, joyfulness
- 11 letters
- contentment3, blessedness3
- 12 letters
- satisfaction4, cheerfulness3
- 13 letters
- contentedness
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (heaven2 = 2 syllables).