Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Sprightly and lighthearted in disposition, character, or quality.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Merry; lively; cheerful; blithe; gleeful; gay; mirthful; airy; sprightly; sportive; light-hearted.
- Synonyms Jocose, Jocund. See jocose.
Wiktionary
- adj. jovial, exuberant, lighthearted; merry and in high spirits : exhibiting happiness
GNU Webster's 1913
- Merry; cheerful; gay; airy; lively; sportive.
- adv. Merrily; cheerfully.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. full of or showing high-spirited merriment
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old French jocond, from Latin iūcundus, iōcundus, from iuvāre, to help, delight.
Examples
“Glad" is from the Greek word for laughter, and the word "jocund" comes from a Latin term signifying "pleasant.”
History of English Humour, Vol. 1 (of 2) With an Introduction upon Ancient Humour
“On the other hand, nine persons either could form no opinion or were entirely wrong, answering, "cunning leer," "jocund," "looking at an intense light," "looking at a distant object," &c.”
“But Eve is described as "jocund" and "blithe" only when she is intoxicated by the mortal fruit of the tree; and the note of gaiety that is heard faintly, like a distant echo, in the earlier poems, is never sounded again by”
“Stefàn lowered his head briefly and a jocund sound escaped his lips.”
“In that way stranded motorists can be warmed and indulge in some jocund seasonal fellowship.”
The Guardian: Can we have a Stop Making Stupid Bills bill? | Kevin McKenna
“New York Fashion Week's candles are burnt out at Lincoln Center and jocund London stands tiptoe on the misty fashion fronts, but aptly named Circa Lounge's flame continues to burn bright.”
The Huffington Post: Anisha Lakhani: New York Fashion Week's Dazzling Newcomer: CIRCA Lounge
“A second hourglass is found beside the lectern in the miniature studiolo, a particularly jocund play of temporal and spatial layering.”
Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro
“The tide of youthful glee flowed jocund from her heart, and the transparency of her fine blue veins almost shewed the velocity of its current.”
“But he was desirous, like a prudent governor, at the same time to get rid, if possible, of the internal enemy, in which light he considered almost every one who eat and drank, ere he took measures to exclude those whom their jocund noise now pronounced to be near at hand.”
“Wordsworth in his "Ode to Duty" claimed "a poet could not but be gay/in such a jocund company.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘jocund’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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henryar's list
marmoleum, menagerie, cyan, ochre, pilfer, discombobulate, loquacious, iridescent, amethyst, derelict, botulism, equilibrium and 240 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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Rickster66's list
I am a writer...I love words...I try to collect them like precious jewels. My list is one that flies by the seat of my pants. They appear and I catch them...
justBear Used for 09 MAR 11 Mar 11, 2011
bilby
We passed where flag and flower
Signalled a jocund throng;
We said: “Go to, the hour
Is apt!�?—and joined the song;
And, kindling, laughed at life and care,
Although we knew no laugh lay there.
- Thomas Hardy, 'Middle-Age Enthusiasms'. Sep 18, 2009