gladness

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English

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Etymology

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From glad +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈɡlædnəs/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ædnəs
  • Hyphenation: glad‧ness

Noun

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gladness (countable and uncountable, plural gladnesses)

  1. The state of being glad; joy.
    • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
      But sorrow that is couch'd in seeming gladness
      Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness.
    • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:
      But as time, as time will, drew on, and Watt's period of service on the ground floor approached its term, then this wish and this fear, and so this sorrow and this gladness, like so many other wishes and fears, so many other sorrows and gladnesses, grew duller and duller and gradually ceased to be felt, at all.

Translations

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