Complete classic literature • Five-line readings • Clear US narration
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Academy of Archival Languages & Memory Studies
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jolly

adjective · noun · verb · adverb US /ˈdʒɑːli/

full of or showing high-spirited merriment

How often you will meet it

Rank 2,942 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 5,571 times across 155,139 chapters — 0.003% of every word in the library.

What it means

adjective

  1. full of or showing high-spirited merriment also: gay, jocund, jovial, merry, mirthful when hearts were young and gaya poet could not but be gay, in such a jocund company

noun

  1. a happy party
  2. a yawl used by a ship's sailors for general work also: jolly boat

verb

  1. be silly or tease one another also: kid, chaff, josh, banter After we relaxed, we just kidded around

adverb

  1. to certain extent or degree also: reasonably, moderately, pretty, somewhat, fairly, middling pretty bigpretty bad

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1

jolly in real books

Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.

  • But you were thought so jolly clever.

    Punch — Volume 99, August 16, 1890 · Various · Chapter 1

  • John stammered out something about good food and jolly talk.

    The Hill: A Romance of Friendship · Horace Annesley Vachell · Chapter 1

  • His face was burly, jolly, and reddened rather than tanned by long exposure.

    The Riverman · Stewart Edward White · Chapter 1

  • At last he saw the first beams from jolly, round, red Mr. Sun creeping through the Green Forest.

    The Adventures of Prickly Porky · Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess · Chapter 1

  • It was all very jolly, and I don't know which the children enjoyed more, throwing the sticks or the nice cool showers.

    Half-Past Seven Stories · Robert Gordon Anderson · Chapter 1

Nearby in the frequency table

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