JOVIAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does jovial mean? 

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

1. full of or showing high-spirited merriment

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• JOVIAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Full of or showing high-spirited merriment

Synonyms:

gay; jocund; jolly; jovial; merry; mirthful

Context example:

a mirthful laugh

Similar:

joyous (full of or characterized by joy)

Derivation:

joviality (a jovial nature)

joviality (feeling jolly and jovial and full of good humor)

 Context examples 

He had just completed his examination when the hall lights flew up, the door opened, and the owner of the house, a jovial, rotund figure in shirt and trousers, presented himself.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As I strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was a shout of jovial greeting when my uncle’s face was seen in the doorway.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Half a dozen jovial lads were talking about skates in another part of the room, and she longed to go and join them, for skating was one of the joys of her life.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Being such a generous, jovial sign, you don’t like to be frugal.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He was a dashing, jovial old soldier in his usual mood, but there were occasions on which he seemed to show himself capable of considerable violence and vindictiveness.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He is the master of the King's horse, and can sing a right jovial stave, though in that he cannot come nigh to Sir John Chandos, who is first at the board or in the saddle.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Happy at Moor House I was, and hard I worked; and so did Hannah: she was charmed to see how jovial I could be amidst the bustle of a house turned topsy-turvy—how I could brush, and dust, and clean, and cook.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In a word, I never saw anybody so thoroughly jovial as Mr. Micawber was, down to the very last moment of the evening, when I took a hearty farewell of himself and his amiable wife.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Scraps of popular songs were chorused with an enthusiasm which was a strange prelude to a scientific lecture, and there was already a tendency to personal chaff which promised a jovial evening to others, however embarrassing it might be to the recipients of these dubious honors.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)