GLEEFUL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gleeful mean? 

• GLEEFUL (adjective)
  The adjective GLEEFUL has 1 sense:

1. full of high-spirited delight

  Familiarity information: GLEEFUL used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GLEEFUL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Full of high-spirited delight

Synonyms:

elated; gleeful; joyful; jubilant

Context example:

a joyful heart

Similar:

joyous (full of or characterized by joy)

Derivation:

gleefulness (great merriment)

 Context examples 

Was I very gleeful, settled, content, during the hours I passed in yonder bare, humble schoolroom this morning and afternoon?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

On the evening of the day on which I had seen Miss Scatcherd flog her pupil, Burns, I wandered as usual among the forms and tables and laughing groups without a companion, yet not feeling lonely: when I passed the windows, I now and then lifted a blind, and looked out; it snowed fast, a drift was already forming against the lower panes; putting my ear close to the window, I could distinguish from the gleeful tumult within, the disconsolate moan of the wind outside.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)