What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Joy vs Amazement - What's the difference?

joy | amazement |

In obsolete terms the difference between joy and amazement

is that joy is the sign or exhibition of joy; gaiety; merriment; festivity while amazement is madness, frenzy.

As nouns the difference between joy and amazement

is that joy is a feeling of extreme happiness or cheerfulness, especially related to the acquisition or expectation of something good while amazement is the condition of being amazed; overwhelming wonder, as from surprise, sudden fear, horror, or admiration; astonishment.

As a verb joy

is to feel joy, to rejoice.

As a proper noun Joy

is {{given name|female|from=English}}.

joy

English

(wikipedia joy)

Noun

  • A feeling of extreme happiness or cheerfulness, especially related to the acquisition or expectation of something good.
    • a child's joy on Christmas morning
  • * , chapter=10
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.}}
  • Anything that causes such a feeling.
  • * Bible, 1 Thess. ii. 20
    • Ye are our glory and joy .
  • * Keats
    • A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
  • (obsolete) The sign or exhibition of joy; gaiety; merriment; festivity.
  • * Spenser
    • Such joy made Una, when her knight she found.
  • * Dryden
    • The roofs with joy resound.

    Antonyms

    * (feeling of happiness) infelicity, joylessness, unhappiness, unjoy

    Derived terms

    * bundle of joy * cocky's joy * enjoy * joyance * joyful * joygasm * joyless * joyous * joy ride * joystick * jump for joy * killjoy * no joy * overjoy * traveller's joy * unjoy

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To feel joy, to rejoice.
  • *:
  • *:for oftymes or this oure lord shewed hym vnto good men and vnto good knyghtes in lykenes of an herte But I suppose from hens forth ye shalle see no more / and thenne they Ioyed moche / and dwelled ther alle that day / And vpon the morowe whan they had herde masse / they departed and commaunded the good man to god
  • *1885 , Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night , Night 18:
  • *:I swore readily enough to this and he joyed with exceeding joy and embraced me round the neck while love for him possessed my whole heart.
  • (archaic) To enjoy.
  • *1596 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , IV.i.2:
  • *:For from the time that Scudamour her bought, / In perilous fight, she neuer ioyed day.
  • *Milton
  • *:Who might have lived and joyed immortal bliss.
  • (obsolete) To give joy to; to congratulate.
  • *Dryden
  • *:Joy us of our conquest.
  • *Prior
  • *:To joy the friend, or grapple with the foe.
  • (obsolete) To gladden; to make joyful; to exhilarate.
  • *Shakespeare
  • *:Neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits.

    • Statistics

    *

    amazement

    English

    Noun

  • (uncountable) The condition of being amazed; overwhelming wonder, as from surprise, sudden fear, horror, or admiration; astonishment.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=9 citation , passage=Eustace gaped at him in amazement . When his urbanity dropped away from him, as now, he had an innocence of expression which was almost infantile. It was as if the world had never touched him at all.}}
  • (countable, archaic) A particular feeling of wonder, surprise, fear, or horror.
  • * 1682 , , The fiery tryal no strange thing , Samuel Sewell, Boston, p. 16,
    • Were believers thoroughly persuaded of what God meaneth, by these things, they would not be so liable to those frights and amazements which distract and disturb them.
  • * 1791 , "Character of the faithful Man," in Aphorisms concerning the Assurance of Faith , W. Young, Philadelphia, p. 60,
    • In the midst of ill rumours and amazements , his countenance changeth not.
  • * 1853 , , Villette , ch. 41,
    • Certain points, crises, certain feelings, joys, griefs and amazements , when reviewed, must strike us as things wildered and whirling.
  • (countable, dated) Something which amazes.
  • * 1913 , , The Valley of the Moon , ch. 21,
    • So impossible did it seem that such an amazement of horse-flesh could ever be hers.
  • * 1918 , , "The Urchin at the Zoo," in Mince Pie ,
    • I believe the Urchin showed more enthusiasm over the stone and the robin than over any of the amazements that succeeded them.
  • (obsolete) Madness, frenzy.

    • References

    * * * * * " amazement" in the Wordsmyth Dictionary-Thesaurus (Wordsmyth, 2002) * " amazement" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007) * Oxford English Dictionary , second edition (1989) * Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)