Mirth
noun /mɜːθ/ — Amusement expressed through laughter; literary joy
Definition
Amusement or laughter — specifically the kind that is shared and expressed, not merely felt. The old English word for the active, audible, communal form of joy.
Beyond the definition
Joy that makes sound. Mirth is what happens when happiness cannot stay inside — when it has to come out as laughter, as play, as the specific brightness of people who are genuinely amused together.
Origin & history
From Old English 'myrgð' (joy, pleasure, mirth) — related to 'merry'. One of the oldest English words for joy — it precedes most of the Latin-derived alternatives. 'Eat, drink, and be merry' is older English than 'be happy'.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
The mirth at the table lasted long past the meal — the kind of laughing that keeps restarting whenever someone catches someone else's eye.
Mirth in the Bible and in Shakespeare is almost always communal — a quality of rooms full of people, not of individuals alone.
She had a gift for mirth — not jokes exactly, but the ability to notice what was funny about the situation they were already in.
Synonyms
Antonyms
gloom, solemnity, melancholy
Related words
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Illustrative example
Community Audience During Performance
A gathered audience sits outdoors in an open space, engaged in a collective experience characterized by active participation, focus, and quiet, shared joy.
Mirth is defined by its communal, audible, and active nature. This crowd scene serves as a focal point for the potential of shared experience, where joy is not just a private state but an expressed, social reality that brings people together in a shared moment.
Image credit: Abhijith Varadaraj S · CC BY-SA 4.0 (license)
Resized and converted to WebP; displayed with a fitted crop.