jolly
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
Evan is also staying jolly, having joked that he would soon be going really fast in his wheelchair, which he currently uses at school.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2025
Puckish humor, high-culture references and interior artwork by Ashley Mackenzie and Virginia Allyn give excitement and heft to this jolly read for children ages 10 and older.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
"What rotten luck for me. We've had a jolly time here at Burguete."
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
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
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
What could be jollier on Christmas Day than a fresh instalment of one of the NFL’s most bitter rivalries?
From The Guardian ● Dec. 23, 2016
“I hope Mama’s cousin was a little jollier than old Hugh,” Theodora said, still staring darkly into the fire.
From "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson
However, if you feel that level of 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
“The world is chaos right now,” says Steven Davison, a phrase that contrasts with what just may be the jolliest job title in the lands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2016
According to a contemporary review, it was “quite the jolliest crime story that has come our way in many moons.”
From Washington Post ● Aug. 17, 2016
It was the jolliest I’d see him all day.
From New York Times ● May 8, 2013
Let’s just say, they’re not the jolliest of giants, those three stone brothers.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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
Somehow, Perry’s hang has jollied up works by established creatives, has made witty the art by people who don’t make a living from their work, who just potter or sell the odd piece.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 3, 2018
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
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
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
The author has more on her mind, however, than jollying readers with not-so-mock rock lyrics.
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
