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jolly

[jol-ee] / ˈdʒɒl i /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The few talks that took place were, as he recalled, such jolly affairs.

From Slate Sep. 8, 2026

And maybe Van Dyke is a little like Santa: white hair, rosy cheeks, jolly and wholesome.

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 2, 2026

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, at 52.9, was a touch below expectations of 53.4, but Wall Street was still in a jolly mood following yesterday’s cooler-than-expected consumer price index.

From Barron's Dec. 20, 2025

Target, meanwhile, brings back Kris K., a jolly bearded Christmas enthusiast introduced in a 2024 campaign.

From The Wall Street Journal Dec. 15, 2025

“Some pinpoint! Is it an airfield? It’s jolly well operational, if it is!”

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

When they return from their jollies, they will have the task of keeping the Ashes alive past Christmas.

From BBC Dec. 7, 2025

Sunday was a tough day for those, like me, who get their entertainment jollies by watching losers try to redeem themselves.

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 22, 2024

“They figured out, let’s appeal to folks who get their jollies making fun of the stroke dude,” Fetterman said on MSNBC.

From Washington Post Aug. 31, 2022

“I get my jollies serving people,” he says, “So, I made good burgers and I served good coffee.”

From Seattle Times May 10, 2022

Basically, if you get your jollies crawling on your hands and knees digging up fossilized poop, then you’ll really love an office full of the real thing—smell included.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

It also makes “Peacemaker” a jollier and more complicated view into the DC world than those we see in the movies because Chris Smith isn’t merely human, he’s average.

From Salon Feb. 17, 2022

Even the jollier song “Perfect Wife,” with its upbeat drums and lively flutes, feels somber in the broader context of the project.

From Washington Post Nov. 30, 2021

The phrase “party season” makes December sound like a choreographed procession of sparkly red carpet moments that, even in jollier years, didn’t quite chime with reality.

From The Guardian Dec. 18, 2019

No odyssey was ever jollier, more symmetrical, or less characterized by either travel or solitude than this dance.

From New York Times Feb. 2, 2018

Did he want me to, I don’t know...be jollier during that one practice I had attended?

From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan

If you feel ... pettiness in your soul, wishing the world a Happy Festivus may be one of the jolliest things you can do.

From Salon Dec. 23, 2022

It’s the jolliest thing in the show: a synchronized dance to the Pussycat Dolls song “When I Grow Up,” performed in heels, wigs and diaphanous floral-print caftans.

From New York Times Apr. 12, 2022

“It’s not happy. I don’t want to compare it to a concentration camp or something of that nature, but it’s definitely not the jolliest of places.”

From The Guardian May 22, 2020

When people ask me what life was like as a kid, I always say, “Oh, lovely. I always had the jolliest home life.”

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 18, 2019

And the man he was holding it for was the jolliest, fat, apple-cheeked, twinkling-eyed King you could imagine.

From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis

The audience is jollied along by Veneziale with polite puckishness.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 18, 2022

These weren’t people jollied by the guy with the funny hair.

From Washington Post Jul. 30, 2021

It was a perfect misunderstanding, between two strangers who’d been jollied into conjunction by a go-between—me, that is.

From The New Yorker Jan. 2, 2019

Not only that, he jollied up his old friend Mickey Mantle by daring him to stage their long-delayed challenge sprint.

From New York Times Jul. 25, 2012

Then Big Ma, who’d been jollied out of her fussing, was once again sharp and angry.

From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia

It seems churlish to begrudge any efforts to spread positivity – but his messages can smack of a jollying stranger telling you to smile.

From The Guardian Nov. 2, 2018

The author has more on her mind, however, than jollying readers with not-so-mock rock lyrics.

From Time Magazine Archive

But he keeps flirting with girls, joking with small children, jollying jaundiced drivers along, all the while methodically stacking their dollar bills and making little quarter-nickel-dime pyramids for change.

From Time Magazine Archive

I got some news to tell ya, Woahoho About some wild, wild life Wild Wild Life, currently jollying up Top 40 radio, could be the Heads' happiest hit yet.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was everywhere at once, pushing, pulling, sawing, hammering, improvising, jollying everyone along with comradely exhortations and giving out from every fold of his body what seemed an inexhaustible supply of acrid-smelling sweat.

From "1984" by George Orwell




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