Word.ws English Dictionary

gladdening

gladdening is the present participle and gerund of gladden.

Meaning of gladden

Verb

gladden (third-person singular simple present gladdens, present participle gladdening, simple past and past participle gladdened)

  1. (transitive) To cause (something) to become more glad.
    • A balmy night! and tho' the stars be dim, / Yet let us think upon the vernal showers / That gladden the green earth, and we shall find / A pleasure in the dimness of the stars.1798, William Wordsworth, The Nightingale
  2. (archaic, intransitive) To become more glad in one's disposition.
    Synonyms:
    cheer up, perk up

See all 3 meanings of gladden

Noun

gladdening (countable and uncountable, plural gladdenings)

  1. A becoming glad.
    • After the buoyancy and gladdenings of her joyous welcome had subsided, she requested that he would make a point of coming to her ball — the same to which Miss Cunningham and her aunt were invited.1822, John Galt, Sir Andrew Wylie, of that ilk, page 101

Adjective

gladdening (comparative more gladdening, superlative most gladdening)

  1. Causing feelings of gladness.
    • Now, the cheerful sun looks in mockingly; we rejoice not in the face of day; it brings not hope, but memory to our minds; and we only watch the gladdening beams to think that they are shining on the narrow grave.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 1

Forms of gladdening

Noun
pluralgladdenings
Adjective
comparativemore gladdening
superlativemost gladdening

Phrases with gladdening

Questions about gladdening

What does gladdening mean?
Gladdening means a becoming glad.
What is gladdening the present participle and gerund of?
Gladdening is the present participle and gerund of gladden.
What part of speech is gladdening?
Gladdening can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of gladdening?
The plural of gladdening is gladdenings.

Words near gladdening in the dictionary

  1. gladdened someone's heart
  2. gladdener
  3. gladdeners
  4. gladdenest
  5. gladdeneth
  6. gladdening
  7. gladdening someone's heart
  8. gladdeningly
  9. gladdenings
  10. gladdens
  11. gladdens someone's heart

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gladdening (page history and authors); gladden (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “gladdening.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gladdening. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.