Other forms: rejoicing, rejoiced, rejoices
To rejoice is to feel great joy and let it show. A crowd rejoicing in the street on the night a war ends; a family rejoicing at the news that the operation worked.
Rejoice is a big, old word. It lives in churches, in hymns, in news reports about whole countries and in headlines — it is not what you say when your team wins on a wet Tuesday. It takes AT, IN or OVER: they rejoiced at the verdict, she rejoiced in her new freedom, the papers rejoiced over the result. The noun is rejoicing, and it turns up in phrases like scenes of rejoicing. For ordinary joy, reach for celebrate, be delighted or be over the moon instead.
1verbrejoiceTo feel and show great joy.
“The whole village rejoiced when the boats came back.”
2verbtakeTo have something and take open pleasure in having it.
“He rejoices in the nickname Tiny, which suits him badly.”
Also accepted in games: celebrate
English took rejoice from Old French resjoir in the Middle Ages, when it was written rejoicen. The French cousin is still in use as réjouir, and Spanish and Portuguese kept their own versions, regocijar and regozijar. All of them have joy at the centre with a prefix on the front.
Old French
resjoir
Middle English
rejoicen
English, today
rejoice
From Middle English rejoicen, rejoisen, from Old French resjoir. a doublet of rejoy. Compare French réjouir; Spanish regocijar; Portuguese regozijar; Italian gioire
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Sharper Verbs, Weddings & Celebrations