felicity
noun
- happiness
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /fɪˈlɪsɪti/ / /fəˈlɪsəti/ / [-ɾi]
name
Etymology: From the noun felicity, and also the English form of Latin Felicitas, a name borne by early martyrs.
- A female given name from English.
“Fliss had them. Felicity Benson, Happiness Benson. Except she's not very happy at the moment, not with me.”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English felicite (“bliss, happiness, joy; delight, pleasure; a source of happiness; good fortune; prosperity; well-being; of a planet: in an influential position”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French felicité (modern French félicité (“bliss, happiness; felicity”)), from Latin fēlīcitātem, the accusative singular of fēlīcitās (“fertility, fruitfulness; happiness, felicity; good fortune; success”), from fēlīx (“happy; blessed, fortunate, lucky; fertile, fruitful; prosperous; auspicious, favourable”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to nurse, suckle”)) + -itās (a variant of -tās (suffix forming nouns indicating a state of being)).
- The condition of being happy.
“Whan this ſayd monument diſcouered was / Suche a ſuauite and fragrant odoure / Aſcended from the corps by ſingular grace / Paſſyng all worldly ſwetnes and ſauour / That all there present that day and hour / Suppoſed they had ben / in the felicite / Of erthely paradiſe / without ambiguite.”
“[T]he wiſe Man gave his Teſtimony to this, as the juſt Standard of true Felicity, when he prayed to have neither Poverty nor Riches.”
- The condition of being happy.
- An apt and pleasing style in speech, writing, etc.; (countable) an apt and pleasing choice of words.
- Good luck; success; (countable) An instance of unexpected good luck; a stroke of luck; also, a lucky characteristic.
- Reproduction of a sign with fidelity.
“The quotation was rendered with felicity.”
- Something that is either a source of happiness or particularly apt.
“[…] to weare our ſelues & neuer reſt, Untill we reach the ripeſt fruites of all, That perfect bliſſe and ſole felicitie, The ſweet fruition of an earthly crowne.”
“The season’s main attraction, the felicities of the sun, dimmed in the light of our competition and our growing friendliness.”
- Period (as opposed to lifetime) utility.
“In equation (19.24) U#95;C(#92;cdot) is the marginal felicity of consumption[.]”