Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged states: JOY is “the emotion excited by the acquistion or expectation of good: pleasureable feelings or emotions caused by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one loves or desires.” JOY is the act of obtaining and looking forward to good..JOY is a gaiety, the expression of such emotion. The expression of JOY can be shown in a smile, or maybe even in tears. A homeless man winning the lottery may experience a feeling of immense pleasure. The birth of a child may bring forth such feelings of delight. Having the health and strength to watch a child grow and become an adult may give feelings gratitude – all resulting in JOY. Merriam- Webster’s Intermediate Thesaurus says: JOY is a feeling of well being and contentment or great satisfaction and pride. …show more content…
Synonyms of JOY include: bliss—a state of felicity or intense happiness , amusement, cheer, elation, and glee. Antonyms include: sorrow, sadness, unhappiness, and woe. A JOYous woman becomes sorrowful once her husband dies. An unhappy orphan becomes JOYful when adopted into a home. Laughter and humor are JOYous and amusing. Kevin Hart, the comedian, is well known for his humor, laughter, amusement, and JOY. A child feels intense sadness when there pet dies. Tornadoes can give a person woe, another word for distress. JOY is evr=erywhere and the word is used world wide.The dates of when the word JOY was first discovered go as far back as the thirteenth century. JOY has roots traced back to not only the Middle English, but the Latin and the Greek also. The Middle English Anglo- French used the word spelled “joie”.In Latin JOY is gaudia, the plural form of gaudium, fromthe word gaudēre, meaning to rejoice. In Greek gēthein also means to rejoice. In his play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeaar writes:”Amen, amen! but come what sorrow can / It canot countervail the exchange of JOY/ That one short minute gives me in her sight”(2.6.3-5) As earlier mentioned sorrow is an antonym of JOY—the complete oppisite. Whatever sorrows, downfalls, and despairs, he has it cannot amount or compete with the delight he feels when he is in her presence. No matter what trials and tribulation she has he will always remain JOYful whenever he gets a glimpse of her .To countervail would mean to outweigh, nothing can outweigh the feeling of pleasure he has for her.Love conquers all, and the love her has for her proves that no matter what he will always have JOY because of her and her love. The Holy Bible reads: “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejiocing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The angels of God rejioce when a sinner repents. Classifying a sinner is easy. Every one sins, from the little white lie, to aldutry, to murder—everone commits sins. Repenting is asking God for forgiveness of those sins. When a person repents angels fejioce, for a soul gas been saved. Angels feel immense pleasure and delight. A sinner repenting is a cause and effect reaction. The sinner repents. God forgives the sinner. The sinners soul is saved. The angels rejioce. God is happy . Happy equals JOY. In the play, “ She Stoops to Conquer”, Oliver Goldsmith states: “And, ev’n while fashion’s brightest arts decoy, The heart distrusting asks, if this be JOY.”