hilarity

[ hi-lar-i-tee, -lair-, hahy- ]
See synonyms for hilarity on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. cheerfulness; merriment; mirthfulness.

  2. boisterous gaiety or merriment.

Origin of hilarity

1
1560–70; earlier hilaritie, from Latin hilaritās, equivalent to hilari(s) (see hilarious) + -tās-ty2

synonym study For hilarity

2. See mirth.

Other words from hilarity

  • hy·per·hi·lar·i·ty, noun

Words Nearby hilarity

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hilarity in a sentence

  • It was her imposing crest that John's storm of hilarity had brought into view.

    The Opened Shutters | Clara Louise Burnham
  • We have only to look at it to bring on an attack of the wildest hilarity.

    Humour of the North | Lawrence J. Burpee
  • Mr. Pickwick expressed his heartfelt delight at every additional suggestion; and his eyes beamed with hilarity and cheerfulness.

    The Pickwick Papers | Charles Dickens
  • It was not that, however, which brought their hilarity to an end, abrupt as though a bombshell had burst in their midst.

    The Vee-Boers | Mayne Reid
  • Nor was their hilarity less, after they had parted from moorings, and were once more in mid-stream, moving onwards.

    The Vee-Boers | Mayne Reid

British Dictionary definitions for hilarity

hilarity

/ (hɪˈlærɪtɪ) /


noun
  1. mirth and merriment; cheerfulness

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012