- gay, jocund, jolly, jovial, merry, mirthful - full of or showing high-spirited merriment; "when hearts were young and gay"; "a poet could not but be gay, in such a jocund company"- Wordsworth; "the jolly crowd at the reunion"; "jolly old Saint Nick"; "a jovial old gentleman"; "have a merry Christmas"; "peals of merry laughter"; "a mirthful laugh"
Antonym: joyless (indirect, via joyous)
- pretty, jolly - used as an intensifier (`jolly' is used informally in Britain); "pretty big"; "pretty bad"; "jolly decent of him"
- jolly - a happy party
--1 is a kind of party
Derived form: verb jolly1 - jolly boat, jolly - a yawl used by a ship's sailors for general work
--2 is a kind of yawl