gleeful

[ glee-fuhl ]

adjective

1. full of exultant joy; merry; delighted.

gleeful

/ ˈɡliːfʊl /

adjective

1. full of glee; merry

Derived Forms

• ˈgleefully, adverb
• ˈgleefulness, noun

Other Words From

• glee·ful·ly adverb
• glee·ful·ness noun
• un·glee·ful adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of gleeful¹

First recorded in 1580–90; glee ¹ + -ful

Example Sentences

The only difference was at MSNBC they were unhappy with what they were showing, at Fox they were gleeful.

From Washington Blade

Plus, Who Gives a Crap’s paper is so soft and smooth that your giftee is sure to thank you—just don’t expect a gleeful reaction when they first see what you’ve gotten them.

From Popular-Science

Little moments, like CJ coming up to Casey to apologize during his exit interview or the gleeful look on Casey’s face when CJ fetched him from his lonesome cot, suggested that these two people might actually like one another in real life.

From Time

The newspaper headlines—“One Running Shoe in the Grave,”—were almost gleeful.

From Outside Online

She’s gleeful in her evilness, and there’s something very engaging about that.

From Time

Told that this campaign ad is probably the greatest ever, Quast was gleeful.

From The Daily Beast

Pharrell's Oscar performance of Best Original Song nominee "Happy" was just gleeful.

From The Daily Beast

Bates describes the media outlets “falling over one another to describe her baby weight in gleeful detail.”

From The Daily Beast

With the gleeful subhead: “After Years of Controversial Comments And Gaffes, Vice President Biden Gets Bumped From Prime Time.”

From The Daily Beast

On his way to the hospital, a gleeful Chen reportedly spoke with Secretary Clinton, telling her “I want to kiss you.”

From The Daily Beast

I wanted to jump and shout, but I compromised by taking Dr. Hudson down for a gleeful drink and planning our next tactic.

From Project Gutenberg

The result was a desperate effort at restraint, mingled with gleeful anticipation.

From Project Gutenberg

Gleeful, and vastly relieved, Professor Dineen slipped me twenty-five dollars out of his own pocket.

From Project Gutenberg

They had a gleeful anticipation that the prisoner would play some audacious pranks upon the judge.

From Project Gutenberg

Charlotte laughed in her face defiantly—contemptuously—with a gleeful, merry accent.

From Project Gutenberg