2 meanings
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1 —as in:
domestic felicity
Definition
happiness or luck; or an instance or source of such- She is destined for felicity and prosperity.
felicity = happiness
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- It is important to her future felicity.
- A mind always employed is always happy. This is the true secret, the grand recipe, for felicity.Thomas Jefferson
- There is a time when a man distinguishes the idea of felicity from the idea of wealth; it is the beginning of wisdom.Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Happy and light-hearted though I was, there were moments, even at the height of my felicity, when, for some unknown reason, depression came sweeping over my soul.Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- Poor Folk
- Not a sound, not a shadow, interrupts our felicity.Henry James -- A Bundle of Letters
- ...so, equally with every felicity, all miserable events do naturally beget their like.Herman Melville -- Moby Dick
- To see the expression of her eyes, the change of her complexion, the progress of her feelings, their doubt, confusion, and felicity, was enough.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
- He has chosen his partner, indeed, with rare felicity. He will make you happy, Fanny; I know he will make you happy; but you will make him everything.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
- So often as she had heard them wish for a ball at home as the greatest of all felicities!Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
felicity = happiness
felicity = happiness
felicity = good fortune
felicities = sources of happiness
2 —as in:
felicity of expression
Definition
pleasing and appropriate manner or style; or an instance of such- Adams described Jefferson as having "felicity of expression."
felicity = pleasing and appropriate
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- With her usual felicity of phrase, she said...
- This specimen, written in haste as it was, had not a fault; and there was a felicity in the flow of the first four words, in the arrangement of "My very dear Fanny," which she could have looked at for ever.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
- I wish to demonstrate further the infelicity of these arms.Nicolo Machiavelli -- The Prince
- The words were hardly spoken when she realized their infelicity.Edith Wharton -- The House of Mirth
- He has traveled many hours from the south, from the mangroves, to be with us, to cleanse you of your infelicities.Christina Garcia -- Dreaming in Cuban
- Dorothea's faith supplied all that Mr. Casaubon's words seemed to leave unsaid: what believer sees a disturbing omission or infelicity?George Eliot -- Middlemarch
- This amazed and enraptured Tess, whose slight experiences had been so infelicitous till now; and in her reaction from indignation against the male sex she swerved to excess of honour for Clare.Thomas Hardy -- Tess of the d'Urbervilles
- Although of course I made no deliberate attempt to overhear, I could not help but get the gist of what was being said, and was surprised by the extent of my employer's knowledge, which, despite the occasional infelicity, betrayed a deep enthusiasm for English ways.Kazuo Ishiguro -- The Remains of the Day
- While Isabel's host exerted himself to entertain her in this somewhat confidential fashion she looked occasionally at Madame Merle, who met her eyes with an inattentive smile in which, on this occasion, there was no infelicitous intimation that our heroine appeared to advantage.Henry James -- The Portrait of a Lady - Volume 1
felicity = pleasing and appropriate
felicity = a pleasing style
(Editor's note: The prefix "in-" in infelicity means not and reverses the meaning of felicity. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.)
(Editor's note: The prefix "in-" in infelicity means not and reverses the meaning of felicity. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.)
(Editor's note: The prefix "in-" in infelicities means not and reverses the meaning of felicities. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.)
(Editor's note: The prefix "in-" in infelicity means not and reverses the meaning of felicity. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.)
(Editor's note: The prefix "in-" in infelicitous means not and reverses the meaning of felicitous. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.)
(Editor's note: The prefix "in-" in infelicity means not and reverses the meaning of felicity. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.)
(Editor's note: The prefix "in-" in infelicitous means not and reverses the meaning of felicitous. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.)