merry: ORIGIN Old English myrige‘pleasing, delightful,’ of Germanic origin; related to mirth.
merry throngs of students: cheerful, cheery, in high spirits, high-spirited, bright, sunny, smiling, lighthearted, buoyant, lively, carefree, without a care in the world, joyful, joyous, jolly,convivial, festive, mirthful, gleeful, happy, glad, laughing; informal chirpy; formal jocund; dated gay; literary blithe. ANTONYMS miserable. [Online Dictionary]
Do you like any of those synonyms? I quite like jocund. Note there is only one antonym - miserable. I may not qualify for all of the synonyms of merry but I certainly am not miserable. I know miserable, not to the depths of pain, hunger and despair of far too many people in the world, but some kind of miserable, more emotional than physical. I am truly blessed, and I know it. Thank you!
blessed are the meek: favored, fortunate, lucky, privileged, enviable, happy. ANTONYMS wretched.
Favoured, yes (note the u in my Canadian spelling). Favoured, fortunate and lucky. Again, thank you.
I am certainly not complaining. Years ago, fourscore, in fact, when I began to write essays at university, I used to look up every key word in an assignment and then use the synonyms as a guide to an outline of what I wanted to say about the subject at hand. I know of two writers who have used something like this approach. One was the poet and etymologist, John Ciardi (1916-1986), who had a regular column in (Saturday Review) that I loved; the other is the creative non-fiction writer, John McPhee, also a regular columnist (The New Yorker). I remember an article in which he illustrated the way he used the dictionary to provide him with apt phrases expressing what he wanted to say.
Writing, it is said, maketh an exact man (woman). So does a dictionary, before the fact, and etymology helps.
I'm still on merry. Soon, my dear, extravagant family will be awake and we will begin our glorious, excessive consumption of this day.
The holiest of all holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in silence and apart
William Wordsworth