mirth
UK/mɜːθ//mɜɹθ/
mirth noun: the emotion usually following humor and accompanied by laughter.
Noun
mirth (usually uncountable, plural mirths)
- The emotion usually following humor and accompanied by laughter.
- 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... - To this speech Bingley made no answer; but his sisters gave it their hearty assent, and indulged their mirth for some time at the expense of their dear friend's vulgar relations.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- merriment, delight, glee, hilarity, jollity, gaiety, blitheness, blithesomeness, cheerfulness, cheeriness
- Antonyms:
- sadness, gloom, mirthless, blueness, tristesse, blues, crestfallenness, dejection, depression, despondency
- But sorrow that is couch'd in seeming gladness
- That which causes merriment.
- Phantasmal mirth, folded away: muskperfumed.1922 February 2, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
mirth meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
mirth in Hindi
- mirth
- हास्य hāsya, परिहास parihās
mirth in Tamil
- களிப்பு, மகிழ்ச்சி, உல்லாசம்
mirth in Marathi
- mirth
- हास्य hāsya
mirth in Urdu
- ہنسی, انبساط, عشرت, طرب
More languagesFewer languages
- mirth in Malayalam
- ആഹ്ലാദം āhlādaṁ
- mirth in Kannada
- ಮೇಳ mēḷa
- mirth in Sanskrit
- परिहास parihāsa
- mirth in Tagalog
- kasayahan, katuwaan, kaligayahan
Examples of mirth in a sentence
- And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that, though I did not see the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth.1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
- All these acquaintances he observed with difficulty concealing their mirth at something; the same mirth that he had perceived in the lawyer's eyes, and just now in the eyes of this groom.1901 [1878], chapter 19, in Constance Garnett, transl., Anna Karenina, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy, part 4:
- They laughed as children do when they cannot contain themselves, and can not explain the cause of their mirth to grown people, but share it perfectly together.1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl::
Synonyms of mirth
26 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of mirth
| plural | mirths |
|---|
Origin of mirth
From Middle English merth, myrthe, murhthe, from Old English myrgþ (“mirth, joy”), from Proto-West Germanic *murgiþu (“briefness, brevity”); equivalent to merry + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Middle Dutch merchte (“pleasure, joy, delight”).
Words formed from mirth
Words that rhyme with mirth
2 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about mirth
- What does mirth mean?
- Mirth means the emotion usually following humor and accompanied by laughter.
- What is mirth in Hindi?
- Mirth in Hindi is हास्य (hāsya), परिहास (parihās). See Mirth meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use mirth in a sentence?
- And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that, though I did not see the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth.
- What part of speech is mirth?
- Mirth is a noun.
- How do you pronounce mirth?
- Mirth is pronounced /mɜɹθ/ (US).
- What is the plural of mirth?
- The plural of mirth is mirths.
Words near mirth in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mirth (page history and authors); परिहास (Hindi) (page history and authors); mirth (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); हास्य (Marathi) (page history and authors); mirth (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಮೇಳ (Kannada) (page history and authors); परिहास (Sanskrit) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-mirth.ogg.
Cite this entry: “mirth.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mirth. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.