Meaning & use
feeling blissful
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Meanings
phrase
experiencing a state of perfect, peaceful happiness
Grammar: This is a participial phrase used after 'be' or as a description: She is feeling blissful. It can also begin a sentence: Feeling blissful, he sat by the sea.
Patterns
- be feeling blissful
- feel blissful
- feeling blissful about something
After the exam, she was feeling blissful and lay in the sun all afternoon.
He was feeling blissful as he watched the sunset over the lake.
They felt blissful on the first morning of their holiday, with nothing to do.
phrasebefore a noun
showing or seeming to show complete, untroubled happiness
Grammar: Used before a noun to describe a look, mood, or state: a blissful smile, a blissful afternoon.
Patterns
- a blissful smile
- a blissful mood
- a blissful afternoon
She had a blissful smile on her face after the good news.
The garden was quiet, and we spent a blissful hour reading there.
Common combinations
- feeling blissful and relaxed
- After the massage, I was feeling blissful and relaxed.
- a blissful smile
- He gave a blissful smile when he heard the baby was sleeping.
- a blissful moment
- For a blissful moment, no one spoke and the room was calm.
- feel utterly blissful
- Sitting by the fire, she felt utterly blissful.
- blissful ignorance
- He was in blissful ignorance of the trouble waiting at home.
Synonyms and how they differ
- happy
- Happy is the general, everyday word; feeling blissful suggests a stronger, more perfect happiness.
- joyful
- Joyful often suggests lively, expressed happiness, while blissful is calmer and more peaceful.
- content
- Content means quietly satisfied with what you have; blissful is a warmer, more intense feeling.
- elated
- Elated means very excited and proud after good news; blissful is softer and more peaceful.
Opposites
Word family
- bliss noun
- a state of perfect happiness
- blissfully adverb
- in a happy, peaceful way; often in 'blissfully unaware'
- blissfulness noun
- the quality of being blissful
Commonly confused: feeling blissful or blessed?
feeling blissful vs blessed
'Blessed' can mean holy or lucky and is pronounced with one syllable in 'blessed' as an adjective; 'blissful' only means perfectly happy.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'feeling blissful' most naturally?
Choose one answer.
'Feeling blissful' describes a happy state and usually stands alone or with a time or place phrase. The other options try to attach an infinitive, a 'that' clause, or 'of', which do not fit this phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “feeling blissful”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.