Word of the Day

Sunday, June 22, 2003

jovial

\JOH-vee-uhl\ , adjective;

Merry; joyous; jolly; characterized by mirth or jollity.

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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.)