Definition

1. Verb (transitive):
   • To cause someone to feel an extremely intense degree of joy or happiness; to fill with overwhelming delight.

Usage

• The verb overjoy is used to describe the action of making someone exceptionally happy. It is almost always used in the passive voice (e.g., "to be overjoyed") to describe the state of the person feeling the joy.
• It is a formal and somewhat literary term, indicating a very strong emotional response.

Examples

• Verb:
  • The news of her safe return overjoyed the entire community.
  • We were absolutely overjoyed to hear about your promotion.
  • His parents were overjoyed by his academic success.

Advanced Usage

• "to be overjoyed at/by/with something": This structure is the most common way to use the word, indicating the cause of the great joy.
  • She was overjoyed at the prospect of seeing her family again.
  • The team was overjoyed by their unexpected victory.

Variants and Related Words

• Overjoyed (adjective): Feeling extremely joyful. This is the most frequently encountered form.
  • An overjoyed crowd celebrated the team's championship win.
• Overjoying (present participle/gerund): The act of causing extreme joy (rarely used).
• Joy (noun/verb): The core emotion; to feel or express great pleasure.
• Delight (noun/verb): To please greatly; great pleasure.

Synonyms

• Elate: To make very happy or proud.
• Thrill: To cause a sudden feeling of excitement and pleasure.
• Ecstatic (adjective): Feeling or expressing overwhelming happiness.

Antonyms

• Sadden: To cause to feel sorrow.
• Dishearten: To cause to lose determination or confidence.
• Depress: To cause to feel utterly dispirited or dejected.

Notes

• Overjoy is a strong verb. It is not typically used for minor or everyday happiness. The intensity is similar to "ecstatic" or "thrilled."
• The word is a combination of the prefix over- (meaning "excessively") and the root joy.

Verb

1. cause to feel extremely joyful or happy
   • the economic growth overjoyed the German industry