hilarity

H4I1L1A1R1I1T1Y4
/hɪˈlæɹɪ.ti/

noun

A great amount of amusement, usually accompanied by much laughter.

“When the new baby's rubber duck squeaked at the wedding, hilarity ensued.”

Less commonScrabble 14

Meanings

nounhilarity (countable and uncountable, plural hilarities)

plural hilarities

  1. uncountableA great amount of amusement, usually accompanied by much laughter.

    When the new baby's rubber duck squeaked at the wedding, hilarity ensued.

    2 more examples

    In the rattle of the box, and of their agreeable conversation, Sir Francis’s spirits rose to their accustomed point of feeble hilarity.

    1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 46, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

    […] it is up to ‘the Left’ to offer a dream-hungry mankind something more exciting than the assurance that, once the state nationalizes everything […] bureaucracy will be done away with and general happiness and hilarity will prevail.

    1981 March 28, Leszek Kolakowski, “Miliband's Anti-Kolakowski”, in Political Studies, volume 29, number 1, Sage Publishing, →DOI, →ISSN, page 125
  2. countableSomething that induces much laughter.

    Many other Latin imports have become staples of our diet, like the burrito, which in Spanish means "little donkey." What other food-related hilarities are we missing out on?

    2005, Library journal, volume 130, numbers 8-13, page 122
    1 more example

    Think it not curious if we don't seem to be as sidesplittingly impressed with the hilarities in this picture as its promotion might lead you to expect. Hilarity is in it—hilarity at its best—as would be almost mandatory in any film with Miss Holliday.

    1999, Vincent Canby, Janet Maslin, Peter M. Nichols, The New York times guide to the best 1000 movies ever made

Synonyms & antonyms

noungreat merriment

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekἱλαρός“cheerful”
  2. Latinhilaritās“cheerfulness”
  3. Englishhilarity

From Latin hilaritās (“cheerfulness”), from hilaris (“cheerful”), from Ancient Greek ἱλαρός (hilarós, “cheerful”). By surface analysis, Latin hilar(ō) + -i- + -ty.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian веселие, смешка
  • веселие (veselie)mirthfulness
  • смешка (smeška)something inducing laughter
Catalan hilaritat
  • hilaritatmirthfulness
Danish munterhed, morsomhed
  • munterhedmirthfulness
  • morsomhedsomething inducing laughter
Esperanto amuzego
  • amuzegosomething inducing laughter
German Fröhlichkeit, Ausgelassenheit
  • Fröhlichkeitmirthfulness
  • Ausgelassenheitmirthfulness
  • Heiterkeitmirthfulness
  • Komiksomething inducing laughter
  • Witzsomething inducing laughter
Irish meidhir
  • meidhirmirthfulness
Italian ilarità
  • ilaritàmirthfulness
Japanese ハピネス
  • ハピネス (hapinesu)mirthfulness
Polish głupawka
  • głupawkasomething inducing laughter
Portuguese hilaridade, hilaridade
  • hilaridademirthfulness
  • hilaridadesomething inducing laughter
Romanian râsete, ilaritate
  • râsetesomething inducing laughter
  • ilaritatesomething inducing laughter
Russian весе́лье
  • весе́лье (vesélʹje)mirthfulness
Scottish Gaelic sogan
  • soganmirthfulness

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with hilarity

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

hilarity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hilarity

MLA

“hilarity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hilarity. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hilarity,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hilarity.

Source: hilarity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.