Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Extreme happiness; ecstasy.
  • noun The ecstasy of salvation; spiritual joy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Blitheness; gladness; lightness of heart.
  • noun The highest degree of happiness, especially spiritual joy; perfect felicity; supreme delight; blessedness: often, specifically, the joy of heaven.
  • noun Synonyms Felicity, Blessedness, etc. (see happiness), transport, rapture, ecstasy, blissfulness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Orig., blithesomeness; gladness; now, the highest degree of happiness; blessedness; exalted felicity; heavenly joy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun perfect happiness

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a state of extreme happiness

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English blisse, from Old English bliss, from blīths, from blīthe, joyful; see blithe.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English bliss.

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Examples

Comments

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  • The wildest largest passions, bliss that is utmost, sorrow that is utmost, become him well—pride is for him ...

    Whitman, "In Sing the Body Electric"

    December 11, 2006

  • Its more than just carnal.

    August 1, 2007

  • Sitting around the just-decorated tree listening to Christmas music with a cup of hot chocolate as it's snowing outside.

    December 16, 2008

  • "Ignorance is bliss." -- Cypher, Matrix

    December 16, 2008

  • Ho ho, Mr Ass Itch!

    December 16, 2008

  • *wonders for the umpteenth time if it's worth the fuss of putting up a Christmas tree*

    December 16, 2008

  • Of course it is! What fuss, anyway? I love xmas trees.

    December 17, 2008

  • I love the whole mythos of Christmas, in the true sense of mythology. It's a time out of time that recreates the world for me. It's probably the only ritual in which I actively participate. The tree--probably through some long-forgotten genetic pagan memory--is essential to that recreation.

    I'm not a Christian, by the way. But I do love the music.

    December 17, 2008

  • The winter solstice is (not-so-coincidentally) nearly the same day (in 2008 it's December 21st). I associate this as the 'peak' of winter, the 'death'/clean-up part of the yearly seasonal cycle process. I wonder... is it the end, or the creation, or a moment of culmination and reflection? Caught in the swooping katabatic while in slow transit last night, it occurred to me that perhaps since destruction will inevitably bring of something new, it's all creation.

    December 17, 2008

  • skip, I'm the same way re: Christmas. But I think Christmas trees are actually kinda Christian--at least on the surface. Something to do with St. Francis in the 12th-13th century.... But everything else that's pagan and mid-wintery and earth-before-time about it--that's what I love.

    I'll think about putting up a tree this year. *sigh*

    December 17, 2008

  • Put up the tree. You're a bear, after all. :-)

    December 17, 2008

  • For folks living in the far north, winter solstice is a big deal. From that point until mid-June, you are gaining daylight. Definitely an element of re-creation there.

    December 17, 2008

  • bliss defies description, obviously, since it annihilates you, since you're not there to experience it. You get the lead-up and the come-down, never the zenith. We went to the place. We came back - spoiled, made ruined addicts at a stroke. From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan.

    March 18, 2012