Meaning & use

gleeful

adjective·Academic

Full of great delight or joyful excitement, often about something mischievous or at someone else's expense.

See it in a sentence

The children let out a gleeful shout when they saw the snow falling outside.

He wore a gleeful grin after winning the argument with his older brother.

A note on using this word

Gleeful sometimes carries a hint of mischief or satisfaction at another's expense, unlike the more neutral happy.

Words with a similar meaning

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

sorrowfulgloomy

Make it your own

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