Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Great merriment.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Demonstrative mirth or merriment; gleeful exhilaration; social gaiety; jollity.
- noun Synonyms Hilarity, Joy, Glee, Joviality; gaiety, exhilaration. Joy is not often used of the excitement or overflow of animal spirits, but is rather and almost distinctively an affection of the mind. Glee is a strong word for an acute or ecstatic pleasure that expresses itself in mirthfulness and other demonstrative signs of high spirits. Joviality is that feeling or character which, being itself gay, merry, or jolly, brings others into the same mood; the word is generally used in a good sense. Hilarity is more often, but not necessarily, used of mirth, laughter, or other signs of exhilaration exceeding the limits of reason or propriety. See animation, mirth, gladness, happiness.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Boisterous mirth; merriment; jollity.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable A
great amount ofamusement , usuallyaccompanied bylaughter . - noun countable Something that induces laughter.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun great merriment
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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They stroll around New York, getting involved in all sorts of situations where 'hilarity' is sure to ensue.
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I mean, when you feature a vampire with a very nervous divorcee named Bushy-Smallwood, well, the hilarity is sure to follow.
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I gotta admit, whenever a conservative talks about being “hip” and/or “edgy,” hilarity is about to ensue.
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In return, I was treated with enough respect to get me through, if we forget the incident at Point 6 when I was left alone with 20 pissed up protesters “by mistake” (for a few seconds) as the van revved up and pretended to drive off amid much hilarity from the team!
Back To The Shire At Last « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2008
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The real hilarity is the recent hint that Israel is now advertising itself as the new potential protector of “Sunnis” like the Saudis against the same Iran.
Is McCain About to ‘Refine’ His Withdrawal Plan, Too? « Antiwar.com Blog 2008
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The hilarity is building, and finally, in a bid to move things back towards bedtime preparations, I grab up the socks, toss them at the laundry, and fling my still-giggling self back across my bed.
Archive 2007-11-01 kittenpie 2007
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"Carnahan does, however, have an oddball sense of comic timing; what his picture lacks in hilarity it recuperates with a well-developed, albeit mumbling, sense of the absurd."
GreenCine Daily: Interview. Joe Carnahan and Jeremy Piven. 2007
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The hilarity is building, and finally, in a bid to move things back towards bedtime preparations, I grab up the socks, toss them at the laundry, and fling my still-giggling self back across my bed.
Okay, Everyone kittenpie 2007
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The hilarity is that you think Republicans have any idea how to secure the country when THE BIGGEST TERRORIST ATTACK IN U.S.
Think Progress » Colbert to Kristol: “How Is The New American Century?” 2006
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The hilarity is increased because I can picture you getting all hot and bothered by us libs, then responding to us and actually believing yourself, which is the funniest part.
Think Progress » Year in Review: What’s Happened Since Bush’s Reelection 2005
super-clarice commented on the word hilarity
Man to female date: So, basically, you sleep with people out of hilarity?
May 21, 2009
shanvrolijk commented on the word hilarity
Howling hilarity upon rereading the book in this context.
January 24, 2018