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Rejoice vs Gladden - What's the difference?

rejoice | gladden |

As verbs the difference between rejoice and gladden

is that rejoice is to be very happy, be delighted, exult; to feel joy while gladden is to cause (something) to become more glad.

rejoice

English

Alternative forms

* rejoyce

Verb

(rejoic)
  • To be very happy, be delighted, exult; to feel joy.
  • *1748 , (David Hume), Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral , Oxford University Press, 1973, ยง6:
  • *:Obscurity, indeed, is painful to the mind as well as to the eye ; but to bring light from obscurity, by whatever labour, must needs to be delightful and rejoicing .
  • (obsolete) To have (someone) as a lover or spouse; to enjoy sexually.
  • *:
  • *:ye that are a knyghte wyueles that ye wyl not loue some mayden or gentylwoman // but hit is noysed that ye loue quene Gueneuer / and that she hath ordeyned by enchauntement that ye shal neuer loue none other / but her / ne none other damoysel ne lady shall reioyse you
  • To make happy, exhilarate.
  • *(John Arbuthnot) (1667-1735)
  • *:Were he [Cain] alive, it would rejoice his soul to see what mischief it had made.
  • *1982 , (Lawrence Durrell), Constance'', Faber & Faber, 2004 (''Avignon Quintet ), p.790-1:
  • *:But good news awaited them in the form of permission to travel about the area replenishing medical stocks in hospitals and clinics, and this task was delegated to Constance, as the newcomer, a fact which rejoiced her.
  • (obsolete) To enjoy.
  • :(Bishop Peacock)
  • gladden

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cause (something) to become more glad.
  • *1798 , William Wordsworth, The Nightingale :
  • *:A balmy night! and tho' the stars be dim, / Yet let us think upon the vernal showers / That gladden the green earth, and we shall find / A pleasure in the dimness of the stars.
  • *1838 , Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist :
  • *:Her body was bent by age; her limbs trembled with palsy; her face, distorted into a mumbling leer, resembled more the grotesque shaping of some wild pencil, than the work of Nature's hand. Alas! How few of Nature's faces are left alone to gladden us with their beauty!
  • (archaic) To become more glad in one's disposition.
  • *
  • *:In May when every lusty heart flourisheth and bourgeoneth, for as the season is lusty to behold and comfortable, so man and woman rejoice and gladden of summer coming with his fresh flowers: for winter with his rough winds and blasts causeth a lusty man and woman to cower and sit fast by the fire.
  • Synonyms

    * cheer, cheer up, gratify, please

    Anagrams

    *