Rapturous

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈɹæp.t͡ʃəɹ.əs/

Definitions

1. Filled with or expressing intense joy, delight, or ecstatic emotion
2. Characterized by overwhelming bliss and passionate enthusiasm that expresses supreme happiness
3. Exhibiting extreme elation and fervent emotion of the highest degree of delight

Etymology: "Rapturous" is a plain English formation: the noun "rapture" with the suffix "-ous," meaning "full of" or "characterized by." Rapture itself came into English through Middle English from Medieval Latin "raptura," a noun built on the Latin verb "rapere," meaning "to seize" or "to snatch away." The core image is being carried off or seized, which is why the earlier sense of rapture was being transported or swept away, sometimes in a spiritual sense, before it came to mean intense joy. The suffix has a longer path. "-ous" descends from Latin "-osus" through Old French "-us," and it reached English in the Middle Ages, where it became one of the most productive ways to turn nouns into adjectives. Words like "joyous," "famous," and "dangerous" follow the same pattern. So "rapturous" describes something that carries you away with delight. The word moved from the physical act of being seized to a state of ecstatic happiness, and the adjective keeps that sense of being overtaken by feeling.

Synonyms: ecstatic, elated, joyful, exuberant, delighted

Antonyms: displeased, unhappy, miserable, sorrowful, dismal