gaiety

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word gaiety. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word gaiety, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say gaiety in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word gaiety you have here. The definition of the word gaiety will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofgaiety, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French gaieté, from gai. By surface analysis, gay +‎ -ety.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡeɪ.ə.ti/, /ˈɡeɪ.ɪ.ti/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: gai‧e‧ty
  • Rhymes: -eɪɪti

Noun

gaiety (countable and uncountable, plural gaieties)

  1. (dated, uncountable) The state of being happy or merry.
    There was much gaiety at the ball.
    The decorations added greatly to the gaiety of the room.
  2. (dated, countable) Merrymaking or festivity.

Usage notes

  • Gaiety is not used to refer to sexual orientation, the word for which is gayness. Despite this, gaiety has largely fallen out of use due to the adjective gay's semantic shift in that direction.

Synonyms

Translations