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Synonyms

glee

1 American  
[glee] / gli /

noun

  1. open delight or pleasure; exultant joy; exultation.

    Synonyms:
    gaiety, joviality, mirth, hilarity, jollity, merriment

  2. an unaccompanied part song for three or more voices, popular especially in the 18th century.

glee 2 American  
[glee] / gli /

verb (used without object)

  1. to squint or look with one eye.

noun

  1. a squint.

  2. an imperfect eye, especially one with a cast.

glee British  
/ ɡliː /

noun

  1. great merriment or delight, often caused by someone else's misfortune

  2. a type of song originating in 18th-century England, sung by three or more unaccompanied voices Compare madrigal

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Related Words

See mirth.

Etymology

Origin of glee1

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English glēo; cognate with Old Norse glȳ; akin to glow

Origin of glee2

1250–1300; Middle English glien, gleen; perhaps < Scandinavian; compare Old Norse gljā to shine

Explanation

If you learned that you'd won a trip for four to Disney World, it would be hard to hide your glee. Glee means extreme happiness or delight. Anything that makes you full of joy, so happy you could laugh out loud, fills you with glee. If your favorite football team wins the Super Bowl, your glee will make you cheer, and a kid let loose with a ten dollar bill in a candy shop might dance around with glee. In the 1700s and 1800s, a glee was a song written for men's a cappella singing groups, which were sometimes called glee clubs.

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Cameras cut to her fans, some of whom were shown sobbing on the jumbotron, wearing traditional Colombian Vueltiao hats and waving their flags with glee.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026

“Melania” taunts the viewer and takes glee in the assumption that they can’t do anything about it.

From Salon • Feb. 1, 2026

"We don't want people relishing in glee at the tragedy of other people," she said.

From BBC • Jan. 27, 2026

Graham couldn’t contain his glee on Sunday aboard Air Force One as he stood inches from Trump, shortly after the Venezuela operation.

From Slate • Jan. 7, 2026

Mrs. was too disgusted to partake in the glee.

From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.