FreeScrabbleDictionary

jovial

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
16
Words With Friends
20
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈd͡ʒəʊ.vɪ.əl/
See all 3 pronunciations
/ˈd͡ʒəʊ.vɪ.əl/ · /ˈd͡ʒoʊ.vɪ.əl/ · /ˈd͡ʒoʊ.vəl/

Definition of jovial

5 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. (comparable)Cheerful and good-humoured; jolly, merry.
    “A melancholy boddy is not the kindeſt nurſe for a chearely minde, (the joviall complexion is ſoverainly beholding to nature,) […]”
    “The moſt ſecure, happy, Ioviall & merry in the worlds eſteeme, are Princes & great men, free from melancholy, but for their cares, miſeries, ſuſpicions, Iealoſies, diſcontents, folly, & madneſſe, I referre you to Xenophons Tyrannus, where king Hieron diſcourſeth at large with Simonides the Poet, of this ſubject.”
    “But being ill-used by the above-mentioned widow, he was very serious for a year and a half; and though, his temper being naturally jovial, he at last got over it, he grew careless of himself, and never dressed afterwards.”
    “[I]n polite ſocieties, he is the eaſy, well-bred man of faſhion; and, in the more convivial parties, he is the jovial companion.”
    “At length, my friends, the feaſt of life is o’er; / I’ve eat ſufficient, I can drink no more: / My nigh is come; I’ve ſpent a jovial day; ’Tis time to part; but, oh!—what is to pay?”
See all 5 definitions

adj

  1. (comparable)Cheerful and good-humoured; jolly, merry.
    “A melancholy boddy is not the kindeſt nurſe for a chearely minde, (the joviall complexion is ſoverainly beholding to nature,) […]”
    “The moſt ſecure, happy, Ioviall & merry in the worlds eſteeme, are Princes & great men, free from melancholy, but for their cares, miſeries, ſuſpicions, Iealoſies, diſcontents, folly, & madneſſe, I referre you to Xenophons Tyrannus, where king Hieron diſcourſeth at large with Simonides the Poet, of this ſubject.”
    “But being ill-used by the above-mentioned widow, he was very serious for a year and a half; and though, his temper being naturally jovial, he at last got over it, he grew careless of himself, and never dressed afterwards.”
    “[I]n polite ſocieties, he is the eaſy, well-bred man of faſhion; and, in the more convivial parties, he is the jovial companion.”
    “At length, my friends, the feaſt of life is o’er; / I’ve eat ſufficient, I can drink no more: / My nigh is come; I’ve ſpent a jovial day; ’Tis time to part; but, oh!—what is to pay?”
  2. (not-comparable, obsolete)Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Jupiter; having the characteristics of a person under such influence (see sense 1).
    “This Planet [Jupiter] being a Fortune, and Friend unto nature, inclineth the native, upon this direction, not only unto healthfulneſs, but alſo to be jovial and merry, affable and pleaſant, and to delight in the company of religious men: […] [T]his direction importeth good from jovial perſons, and is an excellent time to have dealings with, or to receive any courteſie from, or benefit by them, […]”
    “As ☉ is near to a ⚹ of ♃, so did a jovial man endeavour to procure the purchase (after I began), but ♃ is cadent and in detriment, which shewed he should not prevail.”
  3. (not-comparable, obsolete)Pertaining to the planet Jupiter; Jovian.
  4. (Roman, not-comparable, obsolete)Pertaining to the Roman god Jove or Jupiter (the counterpart of the Greek god Zeus), the god of the sky and thunder and the king of the gods; Jovian.
    “I know the ſhape of's Legge: this is his Hand: / His Foote Mercuriall: his martiall Thigh / The brawnes of Hercules: but his Iouiall face— / Murther in heaven?”

noun

  1. An inhabitant of the planet Jupiter; a Jovian.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

First attested in 1590; borrowed from Middle French jovial (“under the influence of Jupiter; of Jove; jovial, jolly”), from Italian gioviale (“(now obsolete) born under the influence of the planet…

See full etymology

First attested in 1590; borrowed from Middle French jovial (“under the influence of Jupiter; of Jove; jovial, jolly”), from Italian gioviale (“(now obsolete) born under the influence of the planet Jupiter”) (attested in Dante, Paradiso, canto XVIII, early 14th century), from Late Latin Ioviālis (“relating to the Roman god Jupiter”), from Iuppiter, Iovis (“the Roman god Jove or Jupiter, counterpart of the Greek god Zeus”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“to be bright; heaven, sky”)) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship); analysable as Jove + -ial. Sense 1 (“cheerful and good-humoured”) refers to the fact that individuals born under the astrological influence of the planet Jupiter were believed to have that disposition.

Words you can make from jovial

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