cheerful

/ˈtʃɪərfəl/

/ˈtʃɪəfəl/

Someone who's cheerful is spirited and happy. Your sister might be so cheerful that you hear her whistling joyfully first thing in the morning.

If you're full of good humor and optimism, your friends probably describe you as cheerful. A cheerful bus driver, restaurant server, or calculus teacher can brighten your whole day. Cheerful means "full of cheer," and cheer, which came to mean "good mood or spirit," started out in the 13th century meaning "the face," from the Late Latin cara, "face," and its Greek root, kara, "head."

Definitions of cheerful

1. adjective

   being full of or promoting cheer; having or showing good spirits
   “her cheerful nature”

   “a cheerful greeting”

   “a cheerful room”

   “as cheerful as anyone confined to a hospital bed could be”

   synonyms:

   beaming, glad

   cheerful and bright

   beamish, smiling, twinkly

   smiling with happiness or optimism

   blithe, blithesome, light-hearted, lighthearted, lightsome

   carefree and happy and lighthearted

   buoyant, chirpy, perky

   characterized by liveliness and lightheartedness

   cheery, gay, sunny

   bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer

   chipper, debonair, debonaire, jaunty

   having a cheerful, lively, and self-confident air

   happy

   enjoying or showing or marked by joy or pleasure

   glad

   showing or causing joy and pleasure; especially made happy

   antonyms:

   depressing

   causing sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy

   blue, dark, dingy, disconsolate, dismal, drab, drear, dreary, gloomy, grim, sorry

   causing dejection

   melancholy, somber, sombre

   grave or even gloomy in character

   unhappy

   experiencing or marked by or causing sadness or sorrow or discontent

   joyless

   not experiencing or inspiring joy
2. adjective

   pleasantly (even unrealistically) optimistic
   synonyms: pollyannaish, upbeat

   optimistic

   expecting the best in this best of all possible worlds