happy event
1
1.2
- noun
:
nacimiento
- We decorated the house to prepare for the happy event of the baby's arrival.
Examples
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Drum music accompanies the proud procession; gunshot salutes ring out, calling neighbors to join the happy event.
Blog text (30) -
For a first-grade class in this school to achieve, on average, scores as high as the middle range on nationally standardized tests was an unusual but happy event.
Academic text (2002) -
When does the happy event take place?
Fiction book (1998) -
"This is the perfect cake for your happy event!" he told the lady.
Fiction book (1999) -
Let's drink to the happy event.
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You're right; it is such a happy event!
Blog text (19) -
Thank you very much, Anne Marie, and thanks to the Nieman Foundation for hosting this very happy event tonight.
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On Wednesday, the day after the happy event, KING-5's Chris Daniels reported that he talked to a wedding attendee who said the occasion was "beautiful."
Blog text (23) -
The birth of our daughter was a happy event for our entire family.
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Everyone gathered to celebrate the happy event when the new baby arrived.
Synonyms
5
4.1
The birth of a baby seen as a special joyful event
Antonyms
How Joyful
Surface Forms
Morphology
While 'happy' + 'event' transparently yields a general idea of a positive or joyful occurrence, there is no direct or predictable link to the specific referent 'the birth of a child.' The use of 'happy event' to euphemistically mean childbirth is an idiomatic, language-specific extension that a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would not reliably infer.
Etymology
Happy event is a polite phrase people used to talk about a birth. They put the cheerful words happy and event together to make the moment seem like a special celebration instead of saying 'birth' directly, so it now means 'the birth of a child'.