Standard Lemma guide

cheerful

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈt͡ʃɪəfl̩/
  • General-American: /ˈt͡ʃɪɹfl̩/
  • obsolete: /ˈt͡ʃɜː(ɹ)fəl/
  • obsolete: /ˈt͡ʃɜː(ɹ)fʊl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)fʊl
  • rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)fəl
  • CMU ARPABET: CH IH1 R F AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Noticeably happy and optimistic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cheery, bright, bubbly, cheerly, ebullient, happy, joyful, merry, optimistic, vivacious, berserk, blissed out, blithe, buoyant, chirpy, blithesome, bonnie, cheerful, chuffed, cock-a-hoop, content, contented, convivial, delighted, ecstatic, elated, enthusiastic, euphoric, excited, exhilarated, exuberant, exultant, fat and happy, gassed, gay, gayful, giddy, glad, gladsome, gleeful, gleesome, hearty, hyped, high on life, jovial, joyous, mirthsome, on cloud nine, overjoyed, overjoyous, over the moon, pacific, perky, placated, pleased, satisfied, stoked, thrilled, tickled pink, triumphant, wealful, happy as a clam, happy as a clam at high water, happy as a lark, happy as a pig in mud, happy as a pig in shit, happy as a prince, happy as Larry, happy as the day is long, merry as a cricket, merry as a grig

Antonyms: depressed, gloomy, miserable, sad

2

adj

Meaning 2

Bright and pleasant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • They enjoyed a cheerful room.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

being full of or promoting cheer; having or showing good spirits

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • her cheerful nature
  • a cheerful greeting
  • a cheerful room
  • as cheerful as anyone confined to a hospital bed could be

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: depressing

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

pleasantly (even unrealistically) optimistic

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pollyannaish, upbeat

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English chereful, cherful, equivalent to cheer + -ful.

Across languages

Translations

94 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مَسْرُور (masrūr) — happy
  • Arabic: فَرِح (fariḥ) — happy
  • Arabic: مبصوط (mabṣūṭ) — happy
  • Arabic: سعيد (saʕīd) — happy
  • Armenian: ցնծալից (cʻncalicʻ) — happy
  • Azerbaijani: şən — happy
  • Central Bikol: magaya-gaya — happy
  • Bulgarian: бодър (bodǎr) — happy
  • Bulgarian: весел (vesel) — happy
  • Chinese Mandarin: 快樂 /快乐 (kuàilè) — happy
  • Chinese Mandarin: 愉快 (yúkuài) — happy
  • Crimean Tatar: şeñ — happy
  • Czech: radostný — happy
  • Czech: šťastný — happy
  • Danish: fornøjet — happy
  • Danish: munter — happy
  • Dutch: blijmoedig — happy
  • Dutch: tevreden — happy
  • Esperanto: gaja — happy
  • Finnish: hilpeä — happy
  • Finnish: iloinen — happy
  • French: joyeux — happy
  • French: content — happy
  • French: de bonne humeur — happy
  • Galician: animado — happy
  • Galician: alegre — happy
  • Georgian: ხალისიანი (xalisiani) — happy
  • Georgian: მხიარული (mxiaruli) — happy
  • German: fröhlich — happy
  • German: vergnügt — happy
  • Ancient Greek: ἱλαρός (hilarós) — happy
  • Hindi: प्रफुल्लित (praphullit) — happy
  • Hindi: हर्षित (harṣit) — happy
  • Hindi: आनंदित (ānandit) — happy
  • Irish: grianmhar — happy
  • Irish: misniúil — happy
  • Irish: spéiriúil — happy
  • Irish: muirneach — happy
  • Italian: allegro — happy
  • Italian: felice — happy
  • Italian: gioioso — happy
  • Japanese: 楽しげな (tanoshige na) — happy
  • Japanese: 陽気な (yōki na) — happy
  • Japanese: 嬉しい (ureshii) — happy
  • Korean: 기쁘다 (gippeuda) — happy
  • Latin: laetus — happy
  • Latin: gaudens — happy
  • Latin: hilaris — happy
  • Latvian: jautrs — happy
  • Macedonian: весел (vesel) — happy
  • Māori: hurō — happy
  • Māori: hihiko — happy
  • Māori: manahau — happy
  • Māori: harikoa — happy
  • Māori: takaahuareka — happy
  • Middle English: blisful — happy
  • Norman: rêjoui — happy
  • Plautdietsch: froo — happy
  • Plautdietsch: freelich — happy
  • Plautdietsch: schaftich — happy
  • Portuguese: alegre — happy
  • Russian: весёлый (vesjólyj) — happy
  • Sanskrit: रंसु (raṃsu) — happy
  • Campidanese Sardinian: cuntèntu — happy
  • Campidanese Sardinian: allirgu — happy
  • Sardinian: uffànu — happy
  • Sardinian: cuntèntu — happy
  • Sardinian: allègru — happy
  • Sassarese: cuntèntu — happy
  • Sassarese: allègru — happy
  • Spanish: animado — happy
  • Spanish: alegre — happy
  • Spanish: risueño — happy
  • Swahili: -kunjufu — happy
  • Swedish: uppsluppen — happy
  • Swedish: levnadsglad — happy
  • Swedish: munter — happy
  • Tagalog: masayahin — happy
  • Thai: ร่าเริง (râa-rəəng) — happy
  • Ottoman Turkish: سرخوش (sarhoş) — happy
  • Ukrainian: весе́лий (vesélyj) — happy
  • Vietnamese: vui vẻ — happy
  • Bulgarian: приятен (prijaten) — bright
  • Bulgarian: ободрителен (obodritelen) — bright
  • Danish: lys — bright
  • Danish: venlig — bright
  • Finnish: hilpeä — bright
  • Finnish: iloinen — bright
  • Georgian: ნათელი (nateli) — bright
  • German: freundlich — bright
  • Italian: allegro — bright
  • Italian: luminoso — bright
  • Portuguese: animado — bright
  • Tagalog: masaya — bright