joy
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A feeling of extreme happiness or cheerfulness.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
joyIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdʒɔɪ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A feeling of extreme happiness or cheerfulness, especially related to the acquisition or expectation of something good.
Something or someone that provides a source of happiness
Anything that causes such a feeling.
Luck or success; a positive outcome.
verb
Feel happiness or joy
intransitive
To feel joy, to rejoice.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A feeling of extreme happiness or cheerfulness, especially related to the acquisition or expectation of something good.
Used this way, joy is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It lands hard, so it overstates anything mild. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Very strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Warm and admiring
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Joy is emotionally heavy: it suggests deep or lasting feeling, not a passing mood, so it can overstate a small reaction.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use joy
- “Her face was filled with joy when she saw the surprise.”
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.