Gleefully
adv.joyful, energeticplayful
What it means
With lively and openly expressed delight.
Reach for it when describing playful enjoyment when its object is harmless
The twins gleefully chased soap bubbles across the lawn.
Choose between these
6- playful
with relish
someone takes marked enjoyment in an action
not when With relish can sound cruel when the action disadvantages another person.
- everyday
ordinary pleasure accompanies the action
not when Happily is milder and can merely mean willingly.
- warm
happiness is heartfelt rather than mischievous
not when Joyfully can be reverent or tender and says less about playful animation.
- professional
excitedly
high arousal and anticipation are observable
not when Excitement may be anxious or neutral rather than happy.
- literary
delightedly
a visible response to good news deserves emphasis
not when Delightedly is uncommon and more polished than spontaneous glee.
- literary
social festivity or lighthearted movement shapes the scene
not when Merrily can sound quaint and often evokes seasonal celebration.
Said against
3- sadly
- reluctantly
- dejectedly
It naturally appears in
3- gleefully announced
She gleefully announced that every lost photograph had been recovered.
- gleefully accepted
The children gleefully accepted the invitation to paint the backdrop.
- gleefully waved
Passengers gleefully waved as the repaired ferry entered the harbor.
The word family
2Where this comes from
Gleefully is unsafe when delight comes from humiliation, punishment, or another person's setback.
- Wiktionary, English adverb sense: with exuberant delight opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.