Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Happiness
1.
Good luck; good fortune; prosperity.
All
happiness
bechance to thee in Milan! Shakespeare
2.
An agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious happening of any kind; the possession of those circumstances or that state of being which is attended with enjoyment; the state of being happy; contentment; joyful satisfaction; felicity; blessedness.
3.
Fortuitous elegance; unstudied grace; – used especially of language.
Happiness is generic, and is applied to almost every kind of enjoyment except that of the animal appetites; felicity is a more formal word, and is used more sparingly in the same general sense, but with elevated associations; blessedness is applied to the most refined enjoyment arising from the purest social, benevolent, and religious affections; bliss denotes still more exalted delight, and is applied more appropriately to the joy anticipated in heaven.
O
happiness
! our being’s end and aim! Pope.
Others in virtue place
But virtue joined with riches and long life;
In corporal pleasures he, and careless ease.
felicity
,But virtue joined with riches and long life;
In corporal pleasures he, and careless ease.
Milton.
His overthrow heaped
For then, and not till then, he felt himself,
And found the
happiness
upon him;For then, and not till then, he felt himself,
And found the
blessedness
of being little. Shakespeare
Webster 1828 Edition
Happiness
HAP'PINESS
,Noun.
2.
Good luck; good fortune.3.
Fortuitous elegance; unstudied grace. For there's a happiness as well as care.
Definition 2024
happiness
happiness
English
Noun
happiness (countable and uncountable, plural happinesses)
- (uncountable) The emotion of being happy; joy.
- 1877, W. S. Gilbert, The Sorcerer
- Yes, Aline, true happiness comes of true love, and true love should be independent of external influences.
- 1877, W. S. Gilbert, The Sorcerer
- (archaic, uncountable) prosperity, thriving, wellbeing.
- 1776, United States Declaration of Independence
- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
- 1776, United States Declaration of Independence
- (archaic, uncountable) Good luck; good fortune.
- 1643, — William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, I-i
- All happiness bechance to thee in Milan!
- 1643, — William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, I-i
- (obsolete, countable) Fortuitous elegance; unstudied grace; — used especially of language.
- Some beauties yet no precepts can declare, For there's a happiness, as well as care. — Alexander Pope.
Synonyms
- felicity (somewhat dated or formal)
- blessedness (dated or religious)
- bliss (more exalted delight, suggesting heaven)
- joy
Usage notes
Happiness is generic, and is applied to almost every kind of enjoyment.
Antonyms
Translations
emotion of being happy
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good luck
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agreeable feeling
fortuitous elegance
References
- happiness in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913