Happiness

Happiness
Happiness Hap"pi*ness, n. [From {Happy}.] 1. Good luck; good fortune; prosperity. [1913 Webster]

All happiness bechance to thee in Milan! --Shak. [1913 Webster]

2. An agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious happening of any kind; the possession of those circumstances or that state of being which is attended with enjoyment; the state of being happy; contentment; joyful satisfaction; felicity; blessedness. [1913 Webster]

3. Fortuitous elegance; unstudied grace; -- used especially of language. [1913 Webster]

Some beauties yet no precepts can declare, For there's a happiness, as well as care. --Pope.

Syn: {Happiness}, {Felicity}, {Blessedness}, {Bliss}.

Usage: Happiness is generic, and is applied to almost every kind of enjoyment except that of the animal appetites; felicity is a more formal word, and is used more sparingly in the same general sense, but with elevated associations; blessedness is applied to the most refined enjoyment arising from the purest social, benevolent, and religious affections; bliss denotes still more exalted delight, and is applied more appropriately to the joy anticipated in heaven. [1913 Webster]

O happiness! our being's end and aim! --Pope. [1913 Webster]

Others in virtue place felicity, But virtue joined with riches and long life; In corporal pleasures he, and careless ease. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

His overthrow heaped happiness upon him; For then, and not till then, he felt himself, And found the blessedness of being little. --Shak. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • Happiness — • The primary meaning of this term in all the leading European languages seems to involve the notion of good fortune, good chance, good happening Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Happiness     Happiness …   Catholic encyclopedia

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  • happiness — happiness,[/p] felicity, beatitude, blessedness, bliss all denote the enjoyment or pleasurable satisfaction that goes with well being. Happiness is the generic term applicable to almost any state of enjoyment or pleasurable satisfaction… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • happiness — (n.) 1520s, good fortune, from HAPPY (Cf. happy) + NESS (Cf. ness). Meaning pleasant and contented mental state is from 1590s. Phrase greatest happiness for the greatest number was in Hutcheson (1725) …   Etymology dictionary

  • happiness — index welfare Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

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