noun / verb

joy

JOY/dʒɔɪ/

Great happiness or delight.

She feels joy as the plant she tended blooms.

An adult smiles with deep delight while holding a newly blooming plant grown with personal care; simple clear joy, no exaggerated cartoon face.

Etymology

Latin gaudium could mean both inward gladness and a source of delight. Joy preserves that distinction: it names the happy feeling, while something that produces it can be called “a joy.”

In context

CBS Mornings0:14

A burst of joy. This iconic photo, a family running towards their father, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Robert Sturm, a prisoner of war in Vietnam for 5 years, freed. finally home

Daughter reflects on iconic photo that shows reunion with her father, a Vietnam prisoner of war

More examples

The reunion brought them great joy.
He joyed in the quiet beauty of the garden.
They remembered the small joys of the journey.

Forms

joy · joys · joyed · joying

joyful adjective — Full of happiness.

Similar words

delight: Strong pleasure or happiness.
elation: A heightened feeling of excitement and happiness.