Ecstatic means feeling intense, overwhelming joy or excitement that takes over your whole body and makes you want to jump up and down or shout with happiness. When you're ecstatic, the feeling is so strong it can control your physical reactions and thoughts.

Picture a student who's been training for months for the regional spelling bee. When she wins, she's ecstatic: her face lights up, her heart pounds, and she can barely believe it's real. Or imagine getting exactly the puppy you've been hoping for on your birthday. That rush of pure joy is ecstasy, and when you feel it, you're ecstatic.

That captures the feeling perfectly: when you're ecstatic, you're transported by happiness. You might be ecstatic about acing a difficult test, ecstatic to see your best friend after a long separation, or ecstatic when your team scores the winning goal in the final seconds.

The noun form is ecstasy, meaning that state of overwhelming joy itself.