Meaning & use
jumping with joy
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiom
Extremely happy and excited, often showing it by moving around eagerly.
Grammar: Used after a linking verb like 'be' or 'was': 'She was jumping with joy.'
Patterns
- be jumping with joy
- be jumping with joy at something
When she heard she had won the scholarship, she was jumping with joy.
The children were jumping with joy when school was canceled because of the snow.
He was jumping with joy at the news of his sister's safe return.
Common combinations
- be jumping with joy
- The whole team was jumping with joy after the final whistle.
- jumping with joy at the news
- She was jumping with joy at the news of her promotion.
- feel like jumping with joy
- I felt like jumping with joy when I passed my driving test.
Synonyms and how they differ
- overjoyed
- A more formal adjective meaning extremely happy; it does not suggest physical jumping.
- thrilled
- Very common and slightly less intense; it can describe quiet excitement as well as visible excitement.
- ecstatic
- Stronger and more formal; it describes a state of overwhelming happiness.
Opposites
Commonly confused: jumping with joy or jumping for joy?
jumping with joy vs jumping for joy
This is a very similar idiom, but 'jumping for joy' emphasizes the action of jumping as a reaction, while 'jumping with joy' emphasizes the feeling that causes the jumping.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'jumping with joy' correctly.
Choose one answer.
The phrase describes extreme happiness, so it fits good news like a job offer. The other options describe negative situations, which do not make sense with this idiom.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “jumping with joy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.