gladden
verb/ˈɡlædən/ · [ˈɡlædn̩]
Etymology From glad + -en.
1
To cause (something) to become more glad.
- 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.1798, William Wordsworth, The Nightingale:
- 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!1838, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist:
2
Archaic To become more glad in one's disposition.
- Synonyms
35 terms
beatify, enrapture, begladden, blissen, bright, cheer, fetch, cheer up, cherish, content, delight, elate, elevate, enbliss, exhilarate, fain, gay, gladden, gladden someone's heart, gratify, happify, happy, hearten, jollify, laetificate, light up, make someone's day, perk up, please, raise someone's spirits, rejoice, turn the frown upside down, upcheer, warm someone's heart, warm the cockles of someone's heart- Antonyms
- sadden
- Related terms
- happiness
- Hypernyms
- enliven
- Hyponyms
- overjoy
- Coordinate terms
- incite