Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Being in or characterized by good spirits; merry. synonym: glad.
  • adjective Promoting a feeling of cheer; pleasant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of good cheer; having good spirits; gay; lively: said of persons.
  • Cordially willing; genial in action; hearty; ungrudging.
  • Characterized by or expressive of good spirits; associated with agreeable feelings; lively; animated: as, cheerful songs.
  • Promoting or causing cheerfulness; gladdening; animating; genial: as, the cheerful sun; a cheerful fire.
  • Synonyms Lightsome, gleeful, blithe, airy, sprightly, jocund, jolly, buoyant. See cheery.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having or showing good spirits or joy; cheering; cheery; contented; happy; joyful; lively; animated; willing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Noticeably happy and optimistic.
  • adjective Bright and pleasant

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective pleasantly (even unrealistically) optimistic
  • adjective being full of or promoting cheer; having or showing good spirits

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

cheer +‎ -ful

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Examples

Comments

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  • "I remember that time when I studied at university. It were cheerful times."

    November 30, 2007

  • People should say "it were" more often. I like it.

    November 30, 2007

  • DO YE HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YE'RE SAYING?!?!

    WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE GRAMMAR?!?!

    November 30, 2007

  • Often hear this construction in English dialects. eg. "I remember Stanley Matthews, he were grand."

    November 30, 2007

  • I AM FULLY AWARE OF THIS, BUT STILL IRREPRESSIBLE.

    'TIS'NT RIGHT, LAD, NOT ONE MITE!!

    November 30, 2007

  • The disturbing yet somehow fascinating sound of uselessness blowing a gasket will probably NOT be recorded in the annals of history as cheerful.

    November 30, 2007

  • They told me that West Virginia is a gourmet's paradise. Would that it were, gentle readers, would that it were.

    November 30, 2007

  • Somebody throw uselessness a damp cloth to wipe his brow. ;-)

    November 30, 2007

  • USELESSNESS, THANK YOU FOR PLACING THE APOSTROPHES CORRECTLY IN "'TISN'T"!! I LIKE A MAN WHO CAN PLACE APOSTROPHES CORRECTLY!!

    Edit: Oh crap... You didn't! (I'm sorry...I was just making a joke!)

    November 30, 2007

  • *inserting earplugs*

    November 30, 2007

  • I THOUGHT I DID!!

    ON SECOND READ, IT TURNS OUT I DID'NT!!

    OOPS, I DID (NOT) IT AGAIN.

    MY OUTRAGED, EXTREMELY UPPERCASE DEFENSE OF GRAMMAR HAS COLLAPSED UNDER ITS OWN WEIGHT.

    and i have no recourse but to shut up now

    November 30, 2007

  • *removing earplugs*

    November 30, 2007

  • You know, though, uselessness... that "it were" could actually be correct in certain grammatical situations. I think it's ... subjunctive mood (?). Is that what it's called?

    December 1, 2007

  • 'Would that it were' is a correct use of the subjunctive, but 'It were cheerful times' appears to be a straightforward statement about the past, hence indicative.

    December 1, 2007

  • Actually I was interested in the cheerful angle more than the grammar. The full passage went like this:

    "I remember that time when I studied at university. It were cheerful times. Certainly study was difficult, but after study always cheerful. At us was cheerful company and we each day off went to various clubs and cafe."

    I was thinking that it was an interesting overuse of cheerful. To the English native speaker's ear it sounds like overkill but in some languages and indeed some kinds of rhetoric repetition is seen as reinforcing a word rather than weakening it. And in this case it's a word which is probably not an everyday item for native English speakers.

    December 1, 2007

  • What am I, invisible, in this conversation? Yes, I mean YOU, c_b!

    December 1, 2007

  • I sure can't see you. ;)

    December 1, 2007

  • ... I'm not feeling very cheerful anymore ...

    bilby, yes, we've once again hijacked a perfectly respectable word page by veering off into left field.

    sionnach, yes, I did notice your grammatically correct usage of "it were" in the subjunctive mood. I just wasn't sure about West Virginia, so I didn't say anything.

    VanishedOne, I wasn't talking about the original quotation (see note to bilby, above, re: veering), but trying to get uselessness's attention since he yelled at me for saying I like "it were." Thanks for clarifying which mood though.

    and finally... reesetee... CAN YOU HEAR ME? HUH?! HEY! Oh, you took your earplugs out already.

    December 1, 2007

  • Ah, yes yes, perfectly understandable, as it were.

    December 1, 2007

  • This is a rather screamy page, isn't it? ;-)

    *keeping earplugs at the ready*

    December 2, 2007