gladness

Noun

gladness (countable and uncountable, plural gladnesses)

1. The state of being glad; joy.
   • But sorrow that is couch'd in seeming gladness
     Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
   • But as time, as time will, drew on, and Watt's period of service on the ground floor approached its term, then this wish and this fear, and so this sorrow and this gladness, like so many other wishes and fears, so many other sorrows and gladnesses, grew duller and duller and gradually ceased to be...1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   gladsomeness, glee, blitheness, blithesomeness, cheerfulness, cheeriness, contentness, contentedness, delight, delightedness