jolly

/'dʤɔli/

Thân thiện

The children are jolly as they play in the park.

Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Cheerful and lively; full of high spirits and merriment: "jolly" describes a person, atmosphere, or event that is very happy, cheerful, and fun.
   • Slightly drunk; tipsy: In informal use, "jolly" can describe a state of mild intoxication.

2. Adverb (British informal):

   • Very; extremely: Used for emphasis, similar to "very" or "really."

3. Noun (dated):

   • A happy party or celebration; a merry gathering.
   • A jolly boat: A specific type of small boat used on ships.

4. Verb (British informal):

   • To joke or tease someone in a friendly way; to keep someone in a good mood by being cheerful.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • He was a jolly man who always had a smile. (He was a very cheerful man.)
  • We had a jolly time at the fair. (We had a very fun and merry time.)
  • After a few drinks, he felt quite jolly. (He felt pleasantly tipsy.)

• Adverb:

  • That was a jolly good meal! (That was a very good meal!)
  • It's jolly cold outside today. (It's extremely cold outside.)

• Noun:

  • The office Christmas jolly is next week. (The office Christmas party is next week.)

• Verb:

  • She tried to jolly him out of his bad mood. (She tried to cheer him up from his bad mood by being friendly.)

Advanced Usage

• "jolly well" (Adverb, British, emphatic): Used to add strong emphasis, often implying something is right, proper, or inevitable.

  • You will jolly well do as you're told! (You will absolutely do as you're told!)

• "jolly along" (Phrasal Verb): To encourage or persuade someone in a cheerful, sometimes insincere, way to do something.

  • He jollied the team along to finish the project. (He cheerfully encouraged the team to finish.)

Variants and Related Words

• Jollity (n): The state or quality of being jolly; merrymaking.
  • The jollity of the festival was infectious.
• Jollification (n, formal/humorous): Merrymaking; celebration.
  • The wedding was a night of great jollification.

Synonyms

• Adjective: Merry, cheerful, jovial, joyful, mirthful, festive.
• Adverb: Very, extremely, awfully, terribly (informal).
• Verb: Tease, kid, banter, cheer up.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Jolly up (British, informal): To make something more lively or cheerful.
  • Let's jolly up this room with some decorations.
• Jolly someone into something: To coax or persuade someone into doing something in a cheerful manner.
  • She jollied him into joining the game.

Related Idioms

• "jolly hockey sticks" (British, informal, often derogatory): Used to describe a heartily enthusiastic, especially upper-class, attitude associated with certain schools.
  • Her jolly hockey sticks manner could be a bit overwhelming.
• "get one's jollies" (Slang): To get one's pleasure or enjoyment, often from something trivial or at someone else's expense.
  • He gets his jollies from watching old comedy shows.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. full of or showing high-spirited merriment
   • when hearts were young and gay
   • a poet could not but be gay, in such a jocund company- Wordsworth
   • the jolly crowd at the reunion
   • jolly old Saint Nick
   • a jovial old gentleman
   • have a merry Christmas
   • peals of merry laughter
   • a mirthful laugh

Adverb

1. to a moderately sufficient extent or degree
   • pretty big
   • pretty bad
   • jolly decent of him
   • the shoes are priced reasonably
   • he is fairly clever with computers

Noun

1. a yawl used by a ship's sailors for general work
2. a happy party

Verb

1. be silly or tease one another
   • After we relaxed, we just kidded around

Từ đồng nghĩa

• gay
• jocund
• jovial
• merry
• mirthful
• reasonably
• moderately
• pretty
• somewhat
• fairly
• middling
• passably
• jolly boat
• kid
• chaff
• josh
• banter