Word of the DaySunday, August 08, 1999
jovial
\JOH-vee-uhl\ , adjective:1.
Merry; joyous; jolly; characterized by mirth or jollity.
Quotes:
One pupil of the sixteen-year-old Custer remembered him as "socially inclined," jovial, and full of life.
-- Louise Barnett, Touched by Fire
The Puritans took a dim view of the jovial, amiable cleric who liked to have a pot of ale at one of Purleigh's pubs.
-- Willard Sterne Randall, George Washington: A Life
He smiled, joked and at times seemed downright jovial.
-- "Piazza Booed Again (Till He Homers)", New York Times, August 22, 1998
Origin:
Jovial ultimately derives from the Latin jovialis, "of or pertaining to Jupiter." (The planet Jupiter was thought to make those born under it joyful or jovial.)
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