gladden

From glad +‎ -en.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlædən/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -ædən

gladden (third-person singular simple present gladdens, present participle gladdening, simple past and past participle gladdened)

1. (transitive) To cause (something) to become more glad.
   • 1798, William Wordsworth, The Nightingale:

     A balmy night! and tho' the stars be dim, / Yet let us think upon the vernal showers / That gladden the green earth, and we shall find / A pleasure in the dimness of the stars.

   • 1838, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist:

     Her body was bent by age; her limbs trembled with palsy; her face, distorted into a mumbling leer, resembled more the grotesque shaping of some wild pencil, than the work of Nature's hand. Alas! How few of Nature's faces are left alone to gladden us with their beauty!

2. (intransitive, archaic) To become more glad in one's disposition.

• cheer, cheer up, gratify, please

• begladden
• gladden someone's heart
• ungladden

• dangled