Happiness

English

Rank of this word in the English language, from analyzing texts from Project Gutenberg.
obliged	ourselves	pale	#913: happiness	religion	dress	degree

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From happy.

happiness

joy, the emotion of being happy.
Good luck; good fortune; prosperity.
All happiness bechance to thee in Milan! â William Shakespeare, Wikisource:The Two Gentlemen of Verona, I-i
An agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious happening of any kind; the possession of those circumstances or that state of being which is attended enjoyment; the state of being happy; contentment; joyful satisfaction; felicity; blessedness.
Fortuitous elegance; unstudied grace; â used especially of language.
Some beauties yet no precepts can declare, For there's a happiness, as well as care. â Alexander Pope.

Happiness, felicity, blessedness, bliss.
Happiness is generic, and is applied to almost every kind of enjoyment except that of the animal appetites.
Felicity is a more formal word, and is used more sparingly in the same general sense, but with elevated associations.
Blessedness is applied to the most refined enjoyment arising from the purest social, benevolent, and religious affections.
Bliss denotes still more exalted delight, and is applied more appropriately to the joy anticipated in heaven.
O happiness! our beingâs end and aim! â Alexander Pope
Others in virtue place felicity, But virtue joined with riches and long life; In corporal pleasures he, and careless ease. â John Milton
His overthrow heaped happiness upon him; For then, and not till then, he felt himself, And found the blessedness of being little. â William Shakespeare, Wikisource:The Life of King Henry VIII, IV-ii