Joyful means full of joy or showing great happiness. When you feel joyful, you're filled with a bright, energetic happiness that often makes you want to smile, laugh, or celebrate.

A joyful person might skip down the sidewalk after getting good news, or burst into the house with exciting stories about their day. Someone might feel joyful when reuniting with a friend they haven't seen in months, or when watching their little sister take her first steps. Athletes sometimes describe the joyful moment when years of practice finally pay off in a big victory.

The word suggests an overflowing, almost bubbly kind of happiness. While you might be pleased about finishing your homework or happy to get dessert, you'd be joyful about something that fills your whole heart with gladness: perhaps the first snowfall of winter, a surprise birthday party, or discovering that a difficult challenge turned out better than you ever imagined.

Notice that joyful describes both the feeling itself and the way someone expresses it. A joyful noise is loud and enthusiastic. A joyful celebration is filled with laughter and excitement. When something makes you joyful, that happiness tends to shine through in everything you do.