gaiety

From French gaieté, from French gai

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡeɪ.ə.ti/, /ˈɡeɪ.ɪ.ti/
• Hyphenation: gai‧e‧ty
• Rhymes: -eɪɪti

gaiety (countable and uncountable, plural gaieties)

1. (dated, uncountable) The state of being happy or merry.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess‎:

     Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.

   There was much gaiety at the ball.

   The decorations added greatly to the gaiety of the room.

2. (dated, countable) Merrymaking or festivity.
   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

     And he would tell her all sorts of wonders, old-world gaieties, long before she was born; and how finely the great Mr. Handel played upon the harpsichord in the Music Hall, and how his talk was in German, Latin, French, English, Italian, and half-a-dozen languages besides […]

• (state of being happy): gayness