Standard Lemma guide

hilarious

adj · 3 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: /hɪˈlɛə.ɹi.əs/
  • Canada, General-American: /hɪˈlɛ(ə)ɹ.i.əs/
  • Texas: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • New-England: /hɪˈlæɹ.i.əs/ without the Mary–marry–merry merger
  • New-England, Southeastern: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian: /hɪˈleː.ɹi.əs/
  • rhymes with -ɛəɹi.əs
  • CMU ARPABET: HH IH0 L EH1 R IY0 AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Very funny; causing great merriment and laughter.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • a hilarious joke
  • Do you like Monty Python? I think they're hilarious.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: amusing, chucklesome, comedic, comic, comical, droll, filarious, frolicsome, funnisome, funny, gut-busting, hilarious, howlarious, humourful, humorous, hysterical, jocular, joculatory, jokes, jokesome, joky, laughable, laugh-out-loud, laughworthy, playful, priceless, rib-tickling, risible, screaming, sidesplitting, sniggersome, tattyfilarious, thalian, thigh-slapping, uproarious, wacky, zany

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Full of hilarity; merry.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

marked by or causing boisterous merriment or convulsive laughter

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • hilarious broad comedy
  • a screaming farce
  • uproarious stories

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: screaming(a), uproarious

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin hilaris (“cheerful”) + -ious, from Ancient Greek ἱλαρός (hilarós, “cheerful, merry”).

Across languages

Translations

57 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مَرِح (mariḥ) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Arabic: مُضْحِك (muḍḥik) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Azerbaijani: mırt — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Azerbaijani: məzəli — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Azerbaijani: gülməli — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Basque: barregarri — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Belarusian: сме́шны (smjéšny) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Belarusian: фацэ́тны (facétny) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Bulgarian: весел (vesel) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Catalan: hilarant — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Chinese Mandarin: 搞笑 (gǎoxiào) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Czech: k popukání — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Czech: legrační — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Danish: hylende morsom — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Danish: hylemorsom — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Dutch: hilarisch — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Finnish: riemastuttava — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Finnish: hulvaton — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Finnish: riemukas — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Finnish: ratkiriemukas — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • French: hilarant — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Galician: hilarante — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • German: zum Totlachen — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • German: urkomisch — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Greek: ιλαρός (ilarós) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Hebrew: מַצְחִיק (mats'khík) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Hungarian: pokolian/hihetetlenül/őrült vicces — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Icelandic: drepfindinn — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Interlingua: hilare — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Irish: fíorghreannmhar — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Italian: esilarante — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Italian: spassoso — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Japanese: ひどくおもしろい (hidoku omoshiroi) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Japanese: 面白おかしい (omoshirookashii) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Macedonian: урнебесен (urnebesen) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Māori: pukukata — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Persian: خنده دار — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Persian: مضحک — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Polish: arcyśmieszny — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Polish: prześmieszny — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Polish: arcyzabawny — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Polish: przezabawny — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Portuguese: hilário — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Portuguese: hilariante — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Romanian: ilar — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Romanian: ilariant — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Russian: умори́тельный (umorítelʹnyj) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Russian: смешно́й (smešnój) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Russian: поте́шный (potéšnyj) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Russian: прико́льный (prikólʹnyj) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Spanish: hilarante — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Spanish: descacharrante — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Spanish: desopilante — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Sundanese: pikaseurieun — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Swedish: obetalbar — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Ukrainian: смішни́й (smišnýj) — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter
  • Vietnamese: hài hước — very funny; causing great merriment and laughter