Meaning & use
light-hearted person
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
Someone who is cheerful, relaxed, and not easily worried or upset.
Grammar: Countable: a light-hearted person, two light-hearted people. The adjective light-hearted can also stand alone.
Patterns
- a light-hearted person
- be light-hearted about something
- a light-hearted approach to something
My aunt is a light-hearted person who laughs at almost everything.
He stayed light-hearted even during the busy season at work.
She is a light-hearted person, so she rarely takes criticism personally.
nouncountabledisapproving
Someone who treats serious matters in a playful or not very serious way.
Grammar: Countable, and often followed by about when naming the topic.
Patterns
- a light-hearted person about something
- too light-hearted about something
Some parents felt he was too light-hearted a person about exam results.
Being a light-hearted person about money can cause problems later.
Common combinations
- a light-hearted person
- Everyone likes working with her because she is such a light-hearted person.
- light-hearted about something
- Try to be light-hearted about small mistakes.
- light-hearted approach
- The team took a light-hearted approach to the difficult project.
- light-hearted moment
- The speech ended with a light-hearted moment.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cheerful
- Cheerful means happy and positive in a steady way, while light-hearted stresses not being serious or weighed down by worry.
- easygoing
- Easygoing means not easily annoyed and relaxed about plans, but it does not carry the idea of humor that light-hearted does.
- carefree
- Carefree suggests having no worries at all, which can sound less responsible than light-hearted.
Opposites
Word family
- light-hearted adjective
- Cheerful and not serious.
- light-heartedly adverb
- In a cheerful, not serious way.
- light-heartedness noun
- The quality of being cheerful and not serious.
Commonly confused: light-hearted person or light-headed? light-hearted person or kind-hearted?
light-hearted person vs light-headed
Light-headed means feeling dizzy or faint, which is very different from being cheerful and relaxed.
light-hearted person vs kind-hearted
Kind-hearted means caring and generous, while light-hearted is about mood and humor, not kindness.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
A light-hearted person is cheerful and laughs easily. Light-headed means dizzy, so option 1 is wrong, and option 3 contradicts the meaning of light-hearted.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “light-hearted person”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.