Library / English Dictionary

DELIGHT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something or someone that provides a source of happiness

Example:

the new car is a delight

Synonyms:

delight; joy; pleasure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("delight" is a kind of...):

positive stimulus (a stimulus with desirable consequences)

Derivation:

delight (take delight in)

delight (give pleasure to or be pleasing to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction

Example:

his delight to see her was obvious to all

Synonyms:

delectation; delight

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("delight" is a kind of...):

pleasance; pleasure (a fundamental feeling that is hard to define but that people desire to experience)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "delight"):

entrancement; ravishment (a feeling of delight at being filled with wonder and enchantment)

amusement (a feeling of delight at being entertained)

Schadenfreude (delight in another person's misfortune)

Derivation:

delight (take delight in)

delight (give pleasure to or be pleasing to)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Take delight in

Example:

he delights in his granddaughter

Synonyms:

delight; enjoy; revel

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

"Delight" entails doing...:

expend; use (use up, consume fully)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "delight"):

have a ball; have a good time (enjoy oneself greatly)

wallow (delight greatly in)

live it up (enjoy oneself)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue delight over the results of the experiment

Derivation:

delight (something or someone that provides a source of happiness)

delight (a feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give pleasure to or be pleasing to

Example:

a pleasing sensation

Synonyms:

delight; please

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "delight" is one way to...):

gratify; satisfy (make happy or satisfied)

Cause:

like (be fond of)

like (find enjoyable or agreeable)

Verb group:

please (give satisfaction)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "delight"):

endear (make attractive or lovable)

delight; enchant; enrapture; enthral; enthrall; ravish; transport (hold spellbound)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The good news will delight her

Derivation:

delight (something or someone that provides a source of happiness)

delight (a feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Hold spellbound

Synonyms:

delight; enchant; enrapture; enthral; enthrall; ravish; transport

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "delight" is one way to...):

delight; please (give pleasure to or be pleasing to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The good news will delight her

Credits

 Context examples: 

Well, I’m delighted to have got so good a man for my brother.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There seemed a certain spice about it, such as men must feel who take delight in making pets of ferocious animals.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of English books, whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and newspapers.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He worked faithfully in the harness, for the toil had become a delight to him; yet it was a greater delight slyly to precipitate a fight amongst his mates and tangle the traces.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. “I am delighted to hear it,” he said.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a stiff leather purse, with a snap, and had three bright shillings in it, which Peggotty had evidently polished up with whitening, for my greater delight.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

While I improved in speech, I also learned the science of letters as it was taught to the stranger, and this opened before me a wide field for wonder and delight.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

That was all; but brief as it was, and to me incomprehensible, it filled the squire and Dr. Livesey with delight.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It would be such a delight to have her picture!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Sir John was delighted; for to a man, whose prevailing anxiety was the dread of being alone, the acquisition of two, to the number of inhabitants in London, was something.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)