different between vivacity vs jollity

English

Etymology

vivac(ious) +? -ity, borrowed from Latin v?v?cit?s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /v??væs?ti/
• Hyphenation: vi?va?ci?ty

Noun

vivacity (countable and uncountable, plural vivacities)

1. The quality or state of being vivacious.
   • 1612, Francis Bacon, Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, “Of Youth and Age,”^[1]

     But reposed natures may do well in youth. […] On the other side, heat and vivacity in age, is an excellent composition for business.

   • 1738, David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, Book I, Part I, Section III. Of the Ideas of the Memory and the Imagination,^[2]

     We find by experience, that when any impression has been present with the mind, it again makes its appearance there as an idea; and this it may do after two different ways: either when in its new appearance it retains a considerable degree of its first vivacity, and is somewhat intermediate betwixt an impression and an idea: or when it entirely loses that vivacity, and is a perfect idea.

   • 1766, Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield, Chapter 1,^[3]

     The one entertained me with her vivacity when I was gay, the other with her sense when I was serious.

   • 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Chapter 2,^[4]

     In the name of truth and common sense, why should not one woman acknowledge that she can take more exercise than another? or, in other words, that she has a sound constitution; and why to damp innocent vivacity, is she darkly to be told, that men will draw conclusions which she little thinks of?

   • 1819, Walter Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor, Chapter 5,^[5]

     Some secret sorrow, or the brooding spirit of some moody passion, had quenched the light and ingenuous vivacity of youth in a countenance singularly fitted to display both […]

   • 1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Chapter 2,^[6]

     […] an extraordinary observer might have seen that the chin was very pointed and pronounced; that the big eyes were full of spirit and vivacity; that the mouth was sweet-lipped and expressive; that the forehead was broad and full; in short, our discerning extraordinary observer might have concluded that no commonplace soul inhabited the body of this stray woman-child […]

Synonyms

• liveliness
• vivaciousness

Translations

Anagrams

• vacivity

English

Etymology

From Middle English jolyfte, from Old French joliveté (“gaity, cheerfulness; amorous passion; life of pleasure”), from jolif (see jolly).

Noun

jollity (countable and uncountable, plural jollities)

1. (uncountable) The state of being jolly; cheerfulness.
   • 1841, Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, ch. 18:

     The Jolly Sandboys was a small road-side inn of pretty ancient date, with a sign, representing three Sandboys increasing their jollity with as many jugs of ale and bags of gold.
2. (countable) Revelry or festivity; a merry or festive gathering.
   • 2006, Rupert Cornwell, "You'd think it was the Thirties all over again," Independent (UK), 4 Sept. (retrieved 21 Sept. 2009):

     Across the US, candidates traditionally attend rallies, barbecues and similar jollities in their states and districts.

3. (countable) Things, remarks, or characteristics which are enjoyable.
   • 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, ch. 11:

     Add to this picture a jolly, crackling, rollicking fire, going rejoicingly up a great wide chimney,—the outer door and every window being set wide open, and the calico window-curtain flopping and snapping in a good stiff breeze of damp raw air,—and you have an idea of the jollities of a Kentucky tavern.

Anagrams

• joltily