rejoice
- 01 C2 Proficiency
to give someone a feeling of great happiness.
to cause someone to feel great joy or delight. This transitive use is less common in modern English than the intransitive form.
Simple“It rejoiced her heart to see her children playing together so happily.”
In context“The news of the recovery rejoiced the family, lifting a heavy burden of worry that had persisted for months.”
UsageUsed transitively with a direct object, often a person or their 'heart'.
Teacher's tipThis transitive use is largely restricted to older literature and formal religious contexts.
“Frank Lampard, arms folded, was unmoved as the away end rejoiced.”
From Middle English rejoicen, rejoisen, from Old French resjoir. Doublet of rejoy. Compare French réjouir; Spanish regocijar; Portuguese regozijar; Italian gioire
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.