Meaning & use
glee
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Meanings
noununcountable
A feeling of lively happiness, often with excited laughter or shouting.
Grammar: No plural: shrieks of glee.
Patterns
- shout with glee
- squeal in glee
The children shrieked with glee when the snow began to fall.
She opened the present with obvious glee.
He rubbed his hands in glee at the thought of winning.
noununcountabledisapproving
Pleasure at another person's bad luck or trouble.
Grammar: Often with malicious or gloating.
The rival team watched our mistake with open glee.
He took gleeful delight, though he hid his glee.
nouncountablemusicold-fashioned
A song for three or more male voices, usually without instruments, popular in earlier centuries.
Grammar: Historical, mainly in a glee club.
The choir performed an old English glee.
He joined the glee club at school.
Common combinations
- squeal with glee
- The toddler squealed with glee.
- gloating glee
- He said it with gloating glee.
- in glee
- She clapped her hands in glee.
- shout with glee
- They shouted with glee when the bell rang.
- unconcealed glee
- He watched with unconcealed glee.
Synonyms and how they differ
- delight
- Delight is a milder, more general joy, without the excited, sometimes mischievous energy of glee.
- joy
- Joy is deeper and more lasting, whereas glee is brief and bubbly.
- elation
- Elation suggests being lifted up by good news.
- merriment
- Merriment is cheerfulness and laughter in a group.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: glee or gloat?
glee vs gloat
Gloat means to enjoy another's misfortune smugly, whereas glee is excited happiness and does not always include cruelty.
Practice
The kids squealed with ___ as the ice cream truck arrived.
Choose one answer.
Glee is excited happiness, which fits the scene. Gloom, dread and regret are negative feelings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “glee”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.