jolly

CEFRB2

/ˈd͡ʒɒli/

noun · adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    Happy, cheerful, and friendly.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Splendid, excellent, pleasant.

Examples

  • Be joyful and merry for it's the jolly season.

  • She was jolly well made to pay.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A marine in the English navy.

  2. A pleasure trip or excursion; especially, an expenses-paid or unnecessary one.

adjective

Extra meaning

  1. Full of merriment and high spirits; jovial; joyous; merry.

More examples

In context

  • The weather's rather jolly today.

  • It’s jolly hot in here, isn’t it?

  • "A jolly place," said he, "in times of old! / But something ails it now: the spot is curst. ..."

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank man in the red suit spread cheer during the holiday parade.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English joli, jolif (“merry, cheerful”), from Old French joli, jolif (“merry, joyful”). For the loss of final -f in English, compare tardy, hasty, hussy, etc. It is uncertain whether the Old French word is from Old Norse jól ("a midwinter feast, Yule", hence "fest-ive"), in which case, equivalent to yule + -ive, compare Dutch jolig (“happy, festive, frolicsome, jolly”), West Frisian joelich, joalich (“merry, jolly”), Middle High German jœlich (“hooting, jubilant”). Alternatively, the Old French adjective has been conjectured to derive from a Vulgar Latin *gaudivus (from Latin gaudeō, more at joy), in which case it would require Early Old French ⟨d⟩ /ð/ to irregularly become ⟨l⟩...