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Glite Dictionary
to make merry

to make merry

2 5.6
Celebrate loudly with food, drink, and dancing
  • phrasal verb
  • /meɪk ˈmɛri/
  • Archaic
translation icon : celebrar
  • At the festival, families gathered to make merry with food, laughter, and music.
  • dance and make merry

Examples

  • At a Kel Fadey naming ceremony, by contrast, men and women eat, talk, and make merry together.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Later, we met up at the bar and made merry until jet lag caught up with us.

    Blog text (23)

  • I hear your people are coming to town, dancing and singing and making merry.

    The Wolf Man (1941)

  • A kind stranger sent us a prize turkey, and we made merry long into the night.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • They would sit, eating and drinking and otherwise making merry, till dawn.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • A table for all people to sit around, hash things out, share a meal together, and make merry after drinks.

    Blog text (23)

  • Revelers ate, drank, and made merry; they danced and played games; they gasped at fireworks displays.

    Academic text (2000)

  • They are some of my prettiest Christmas memories, along with Noche Buena, when we'd go house to house eating and making merry.

    Blog text (12)

  • During the holiday season, friends often make merry by sharing meals and exchanging gifts.

  • On New Year's Eve, people usually make merry by celebrating together with fireworks and festivities.

Synonyms

to revel
vsto make merry
17 4.9

To celebrate loudly with dancing and drinking

celebrates more generally with eating, drinking, and noisy fun
to whoop it up
vsto make merry
  • Informal
3 8.8

To celebrate loudly with cheering and noisy fun

is a lively, cheerful celebration that also includes food and drink
to make whoopee
vsto make merry
  • Archaic
1 8.7

Enjoy a loud, lively party with dancing and drinking

emphasizes general celebration with food, drink, and fun
to jollify
vsto make merry
  • Archaic
9.8

Celebrate loudly with singing, dancing, and drinking

is a broader noisy rejoicing including eating and various activities
to wassail
vsto make merry
  • Archaic
9.9

To celebrate loudly with singing and drinking

is general noisy celebration rather than a ritual toasting event

Antonyms

to mourn
191 3.0

Feel or show deep sadness after someone dies

sulk
3 4.3

A time of refusing to talk because you feel annoyed or disappointed

How Festive

carouse
  • Archaic
1 9.5
to make merry
  • Archaic
2 5.6
to party
  • Informal
298 3.0
to celebrate
∞ 1.4

Surface Forms

make merry infinitive
made merry past
made merry past participle
making merry present participle
makes merry third person singular

Morphology

make + merry

The meaning is directly compositional: 'make' (to cause or produce) combined with 'merry' (joyful) yields 'cause to be joyful' or 'celebrate.' This follows a common make + adjective causative pattern found in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning despite the phrase's slightly formal/archaic register.

Etymology

Make merry paints a simple picture: long ago people in a big hall would make the evening merry by eating, drinking and dancing together. One popular story says this noisy, joyful scene is why make merry today means 'to celebrate' or 'to have fun'.