Skip to main content

Mirth vs Glee vs Jollity vs Hilarity

Mirth, gleejollityhilarity are comparable when they mean the mood or temper of a person or a group of person manifesting joy or high spirits especially in laughter, play or merrymaking.

Mirth often implies lightness of heart and a love of gaiety; it may, however, imply great amusement or cause for laughter.

Glee is often employed in reference to an individual who by reason of special circumstances is filled with joy, delight, or happiness, and shows his exultancy by laughter, smiles, and cries of joy.

But glee may express the exultation of one who takes more or less malicious delight in another’s misfortunes or predicaments.

Jollity, on the other hand, usually implies mirth in a group, especially a merrymaking group. Distinctively, however, it connotes exuberance and lack of constraint and may imply revelry of any kind.

Hilarity fundamentally implies the exhilaration of spirits (as by wine, pleasurable excitement, or great amusement), but it often carries implications of boisterousness or exuberance.