jovial

[ joh-vee-uhl ]
See synonyms for jovial on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. endowed with or characterized by a hearty, joyous humor or a spirit of good-fellowship: a wonderfully jovial host.

  2. (initial capital letter) of or relating to the god Jove, or Jupiter.

Origin of jovial

1
First recorded in 1580–90; from Medieval Latin joviālis “of Jupiter” (the planet, supposed to exert a happy influence), equivalent to Latin jovi- (see Jovian) + -ālis -al1

synonym study For jovial

1. Jovial, jocose, jocular, jocund agree in referring to someone who is in a good humor. Jovial suggests a hearty, joyous humor: a jovial person. Jocose refers to that which causes laughter; it suggests someone who is playful and given to jesting: with jocose and comical airs. Jocular means humorous, facetious, mirthful, and waggish: jocular enough to keep up the spirits of all around him. Jocund, now a literary word, suggests a cheerful, light-hearted, and sprightly gaiety: glad and jocund company.

Other words for jovial

Opposites for jovial

Other words from jovial

  • jo·vi·al·ly, adverb
  • jo·vi·al·ness, noun
  • un·jo·vi·al, adjective
  • un·jo·vi·al·ly, adverb

Words that may be confused with jovial

Words Nearby jovial

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

How to use jovial in a sentence

  • In private life, all who knew him agreed as to his sympathetic, jovial, and straightforward character.

  • In his younger days Jacob Worse had been a little wild, and was now a jovial middle-aged man, about fifty years of age.

    Skipper Worse | Alexander Lange Kielland
  • And then he went off to the Convivial Cannibals, where he ate an enormous tripe supper, and was more jovial and violent than ever.

  • At times they had a word or two in private, and Macfarlane was from first to last particularly kind and jovial.

    Tales and Fantasies | Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Old Judge Mason, accustomed to seeing Barry in time of stress, tried his best to be jovial.

    The White Desert | Courtney Ryley Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for jovial

jovial

/ (ˈdʒəʊvɪəl) /


adjective
  1. having or expressing convivial humour; jolly

Origin of jovial

1
C16: from Latin joviālis of (the planet) Jupiter, considered by astrologers to foster good humour

Derived forms of jovial

  • joviality or jovialness, noun
  • jovially, adverb

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