WordWealth: jollity

jol·li·ty , n., pl. -ties.

[1250–1300; ME jolite < OF, equiv. to joli(f) gay (see JOLLY) + -te -TY2]

—Syn. 1. See mirth. (Random House Webster's Unabridged). Look at Thesaurus

Grownups hasn't much of a plot: Beck looks up her first boyfriend, they begin dating, and we watch them rather awkwardly (these sections have a nice, jagged authenticity) fall "in fond." Many parties are thrown; the extended family converges. Beck has a vivid dream that she has a blond son; her real-life daughters are all dark: is the dream a symbol of a parallel life, the one unlived? Against all this interior tumble Beck extends her "unrelenting jollity," which both reassures and irritates her brood. —— Katharine Whittemore in Ordinary People. (In her latest novel, as in all her work, Anne Tyler explores un-hip, gentle lives of fortitude and decency)

We all aspire to the idea of peace and goodwill and jollity. But for a lot of people Christmas is a less than happy time, made worse by the fact that others around us seem to be enjoying themselves Many can feel depressed and suicidal, like Elizabeth Treasure. The festive season may also accentuate feelings of loneliness, or bring to a head problems in marriages or relationships. And it's not just Christmas itself. The long holiday, when many normal aspects of life are interrupted, can bring feelings of desolation, disappointment and isolation. —— Give now and save a life, the Independent, Dec 2002

The atmosphere is energetic but lacks the lazy ease, madcap jollity and shrugging sorrow that makes for ''Russian soul.'' Still, paradoxically, that makes it a lot like many of the happening new restaurants in Moscow where theme trumps ambience and new money is burned on food and drink.  —— My Manhattan; Mother Russia In Her Dens in Travel by Richard Lourie (NYT), Janu 3, 2003

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