EN

Synonyms for merry

  • adjective

Most common

jovial joyous happy joyful lively gay tipsy jolly

Synonyms by meaning

Adjective

1. Jovial — jolly and full of high spirits; happy

jovial, joyous, happy, joyful, cheerful, blithe, bright, gleeful, glad, cheery, convivial, light-hearted, exuberant, genial, giddy, facetious, delighted, exultant, pleased, buoyant, boon, ecstatic

2. Lively — brisk

lively, gay, sprightly, vivacious, spirited, buxom, playful, brisk, energetic, snappy, animated, zippy informal, airy, alert, rattling, spanking, frolicsome, rollicking, frisky, wanton dated, sportive dated, playsome formal dated

3. Tipsy — drunk; tipsy

tipsy, drunken, drunk, full AU, inebriated, blind drunk, mellow, boozy, cut, maudlin, besotted, fresh, sodden, muddled, flustered, nappy, elevated, fou UK, inebriate, fuddled, crapulous, sotted

4. Jolly

jolly, mirthful, jocular, jocund

Other

festive, festal, delightful, humorous, humourous UK, hilarious, gladful

Antonyms

sad, miserable, unhappy

All antonyms of merry →

Definitions

  1. adj. 1

    Jolly and full of high spirits; happy.

    We had a very merry Christmas.

  2. adj. 2

    Brisk.

    The car moved at a merry clip.

  3. adj. 3

    Drunk; tipsy.

    Some of us got a little merry at the office Christmas party.

  4. adj. 4

    Festive and full of fun and laughter.

    Everyone was merry at the party.

Related words

Word family
merrily merriment merriness merry-andrew merrybell merry-go-around merry-go-round merry-go-whirl
Phrases
make merry merry dance merry chase

From weakest to strongest

  1. miserable
  2. unhappy
  3. sad
  4. merry
  5. cheerful
  6. joyful
  7. joyous
  8. cheery
  9. jovial
  10. blithe

From the opposite of merry, on the left, to its strongest synonyms, on the right.

Example sentences

  • cheerful She is loved by everybody because she is cheerful.
  • joyful Beautiful fireworks conclude these two joyful days.
  • joyous To Boris's joyous surprise, there was a payphone there.
  • jovial Santiago’s jovial mood angered Rima.
  • vivacious Mary was very vivacious and easy to talk to.
  • sprightly Our best player is a real sprightly fellow.

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
merryrising
cheerfulrising
joyfulrising
joyousrising
jovialrising
vivaciousrising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters
cut1, gay1, fou
4 letters
full1, glad1, boon1, airy2
5 letters
happy2, fresh1, drunk1, alert2, jolly2, giddy2, brisk1, tipsy2, nappy, zippy2, boozy2, buxom2
6 letters
bright1, lively2, joyful2, joyous2, mellow2, cheery2, snappy2, wanton2, jovial3, genial2, frisky2, blithe1, sodden2, festal
7 letters
pleased1, drunken2, festive2, playful2, buoyant2, muddled2, gleeful2, maudlin2, jocular3, fuddled, gladful
8 letters
animated4, elevated4, cheerful2, humorous3, spirited3, ecstatic3, spanking2, rattling2, sportive, besotted3, exultant3, mirthful, playsome
9 letters
hilarious4, delighted3, energetic4, exuberant4, flustered2, vivacious3, facetious3, sprightly2, convivial4, humourous, inebriate4, crapulous
10 letters
delightful3, inebriated5, rollicking3, frolicsome

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (airy2 = 2 syllables).