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Mirth vs Happy - What's the difference?

mirth | happy |

As a noun mirth

is the emotion usually following humour and accompanied by laughter; merriment; jollity; gaiety.

As an adjective happy is

experiencing the effect of favourable fortune; having the feeling arising from the consciousness of well-being or of enjoyment; enjoying good of any kind, as peace, tranquillity, comfort; contented; joyous.

mirth

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The emotion usually following humour and accompanied by laughter; merriment; jollity; gaiety.
  • * 1883 ,
  • And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that, though I did not see the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth.
  • *, title=The Mirror and the Lamp
  • , chapter=2 citation , passage=She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth , and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.}}
  • * 1912 , :
  • Their eyes met and they began to laugh. They laughed as children do when they cannot contain themselves, and can not explain the cause of their mirth to grown people, but share it perfectly together.
  • That which causes merriment.
  • * 1922 ,
  • Phantasmal mirth , folded away: muskperfumed.

    Synonyms

    * (emotion) delight, glee, hilarity, jollity

    Antonyms

    * (emotion) sadness, gloom

    Derived terms

    * mirthful * mirthfulness * mirthless * mirthlessly * mirthlessness

    happy

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Experiencing the effect of favourable fortune; having the feeling arising from the consciousness of well-being or of enjoyment; enjoying good of any kind, as peace, tranquillity, comfort; contented; joyous.
  • * 1769 , Oxford Standard text, , 144, xv,
  • Happy' is that people, that is in such a case: yea, ' happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.
  • * 1777 , (Alexander Pope), An Essay on Man in Four Epistles: Argument of Epistle II'', in ''The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Esq , Volume III, page 26,
  • The learn'd is happy' nature to explore, / The fool is ' happy that he knows no more ;
    Music makes me feel happy .
  • Favored by luck or fortune; lucky.
  • * 1661 , (Robert Boyle), (The Sceptical Chymist) , 2006, Elibron Classics (imprint), page 227,
  • I may presume that what I have hitherto discoursed will induce you to think, that chymists have been much more happy in finding experiments than the causes of them; or in assigning the principles by which they may best be explained.
  • Dexterous; ready; apt; felicitous.
  • * 1761 , (Jonathan Swift), A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation'': Introduction, in ''The works of Dr Jonathan Swift , Volume VII, page 246,
  • For instance, one lady can give an an?wer better than a?k a que?tion : one gentleman is happy at a reply ; another excels in a rejoinder : one can revive a langui?hing conver?ation by a ?udden ?urpri?ing ?entence ;.
  • Content, satisfied (with or to do something); having no objection (to something).
  • Are you happy to pay me back by the end of the week?
    Are you happy with your internet service provider?
  • (As a suffix to a noun) favouring or inclined to use, as in trigger-happy.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=August 21 , author=Jason Heller , title=The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review) , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=“Baby, I was a loser / Several years on the dole / An Englishman with a very high voice / Doing rock ’n’ roll,” sings falsetto-happy frontman Justin Hawkins at the start of “Every Inch Of You,” Hot Cakes ’ opener.}}

    Usage notes

    * Said of expedients, efforts, ventures, omens, etc. * (experiencing the effect of favorable fortune) Said of people, hours, thoughts, times, etc.

    Synonyms

    * (favored by luck) lucky, fortunate, prosperous, cheerful, content, delighted, elated, exultant, orgasmic See

    Antonyms

    * sad * unhappy * unpleasant, displeasing, unenjoyable

    Derived terms

    * happify * happily * happiness * happy as a lark * happy as a pig in shit * happy as Larry * happy bunny * happy chappy * happy-clappy * happy families * happy family * happy-go-lucky * happy hour * happy slapping * happy talk * slap-happy * trigger-happy