mirth — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The emotion usually following humor and accompanied by laughter.

   Usage

   • Uncountable
   • usually

   Synonyms

   merrimentdelightgleehilarityjollitygaiety

   Antonyms

   sadnessgloommirthless

   Examples

   But sorrow that is couch'd in seeming gladness Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness.

   More examples (1)

   To this speech Bingley made no answer; but his sisters gave it their hearty assent, and indulged their mirth for some time at the expense of their dear friend's vulgar relations.

   And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that, though I did not see the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth.

   More examples (3)

   All these acquaintances he observed with difficulty concealing their mirth at something; the same mirth that he had perceived in the lawyer's eyes, and just now in the eyes of this groom.

   She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.

   Their eyes met and they began to laugh. They laughed as children do when they cannot contain themselves, and can not explain the cause of their mirth to grown people, but share it perfectly together.

2. That which causes merriment.

   Usage

   • Uncountable
   • usually

   Examples

   Phantasmal mirth, folded away: muskperfumed.

Noun

1. great merriment

   Synonyms

   hilaritymirthfulnessgleegleefulness

   Broader terms

   gaietymerriment