happiness

Definitions

1. 1.An agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious happening of any kind; the possession of those circumstances or that state of being which is attended enjoyment; the state of being happy; contentment; joyful satisfaction; felicity; blessedness.
2. 2.Fortuitous elegance; unstudied grace; -- used especially of language. Some beauties yet no precepts can declare, For there's a happiness, as well as care. Pope. Happiness is generic, and is applied to almost every kind of enjoyment except that of the animal appetites; felicity is a more formal word, and is used more sparingly in the same general sense, but with elevated associations; blessedness is applied to the most refined enjoyment arising from the purest social, benevolent, and religious affections; bliss denotes still more exalted delight, and is applied more appropriately to the joy anticipated in heaven. O happiness! our being's end and aim! Pope. Others in virtue place felicity, But virtue joined with riches and long life; In corporal pleasures he, and careless ease. Milton. His overthrow heaped happiness upon him; For then, and not till then, he felt himself, And found the blessedness of being little. Shak.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

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