What's the difference between blithe and joy?

Blithe


Definition:

  • (a.) Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) On Wednesday, the ire of the marchers was focused on all those Lib Dems who blithely signed the NUS's anti-fees pledge ("I pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament and to pressure the government to introduce a fairer alternative" – yesterday, Nick Clegg limply said that he "should have been more careful" than to put his name to it).
  • (2) Instead, the spending review blithely asserted "couples with children must work 24 hours per week between them" in order to get a credit that is worth up to an annual maximum of £3,870.
  • (3) Last month, for example, the Daily Telegraph's Peter Oborne bemoaned their "devastating" fate, in a piece worth quoting at reasonable length, if only to prove that the idea of an out-of-touch elite blithely wreaking havoc is not the preserve of hard-bitten lefties.
  • (4) This is why, you see, people with rucksacks pummel all those in their immediate vicinity with their giant sacks as they trundle on their way, whacking them about as they blithely move about trains, pavements or any other public area.
  • (5) These films were a blithe rebuttal of the critic Edward Said’s insight that, in a novel like Mansfield Park, the “English” story necessarily concealed the story, located elsewhere but inextricable from the main narrative, of a West Indian sugar plantation.
  • (6) Click here for the Magic in the Moonlight trailer Compared with the gloomy ruminations on ageing and aspiration that characterised the well-received Blue Jasmine, which won Cate Blanchett an Oscar , this is Allen going back to the knockabout farce and blithe May-December couplings that populate his lighter films.
  • (7) This narrative is a form of manufacture of innocence to mask a great crime: what your script blithely calls "the detainee program".
  • (8) Here lies our greatest risk, one insufficiently appreciated by those who so blithely accept the tentacles of corporation, press and state insinuating their way into the private sphere.
  • (9) When he arrived at the venue and was confronted by a motley horde of fans, tipped off by a tweet, instead of sidling in the back to pace about alone in a corridor, like a normal human would, Fry blithely faced the crowd, chatting and signing autographs.
  • (10) She says she "naively stumbled into the campaign", starting the petition on Change.org, which she found through a Google search, and setting her target at a blithely optimistic 1m signatures.
  • (11) I have a concern that there are too many of them – and most will gather dust on shelves, and hospitals will go blithely on as they always have.
  • (12) But they blithely ignore the fact that wealth isn't being created under the existing broken economic model.
  • (13) Mr Osborne can hardly not know this, but he continues blithely to define living within our means as a government challenge, rather than a wider challenge to the entire public and private sector.
  • (14) Yes, when we all had the blithe assumption that houses would always rise in value, that bankers were always going to get £3m bonuses.
  • (15) In a fascinating recent article the economist Tyler Cowen pointed out the problem with blithe assumptions about a better future – they miss out on the history of what actually happened in the great industrial transformations of the past.
  • (16) Phone jammed to her ear, laptop open on her knee, she was blithely conducting a conference call while wearing highlighter foils.
  • (17) The original sin of the euro-enthusiasts was to settle the politics first and then blithely assume that the economics would sort themselves out.
  • (18) This distinction, popularised by Michael Ignatieff in the mid-1990s, has received much debate, which Bragg blithely ignores.
  • (19) It’s just interesting that home advantage – the chance to build a rapport with local audiences; familiarity with local culture, etc – is being blithely squandered.
  • (20) But clearly there is a difference between blithely hurtling into catastrophe and trying to lead a party away from it.

Joy


Definition:

  • (n.) The passion or emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good; pleasurable feelings or emotions caused by success, good fortune, and the like, or by a rational prospect of possessing what we love or desire; gladness; exhilaration of spirits; delight.
  • (n.) That which causes joy or happiness.
  • (n.) The sign or exhibition of joy; gayety; mirth; merriment; festivity.
  • (n.) To rejoice; to be glad; to delight; to exult.
  • (v. t.) To give joy to; to congratulate.
  • (v. t.) To gladden; to make joyful; to exhilarate.
  • (v. t.) To enjoy.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This frees the student to experience the excitement and challenge of learning and the joy of helping people.
  • (2) It came in a mix of joy and sorrow and brilliance under pressure, with one of the most remarkable things you will ever see on a basketball court in the biggest moment.
  • (3) His greatest legacy, besides his three children, is the joy and happiness he offered to others, particularly to those fighting personal battles.
  • (4) An untiring advocate of the joys and merits of his adopted home county, Bradbury figured Norfolk as a place of writing parsons, farmer-writers and sensitive poets: John Skelton, Rider Haggard, John Middleton Murry, William Cowper, George MacBeth, George Szirtes.
  • (5) He'll watch Game of Thrones , from now on, as a cheerfully clueless fan, "with total surprise and joy", and meanwhile get on with other work.
  • (6) José Mourinho ended this breathless contest on his knees with a sliding, turf-surfing celebration that was fuelled by relief as much as joy.
  • (7) But in the event, two US writers have made the final round of this year's award: Joshua Ferris and Karen Joy Fowler .
  • (8) It's no surprise that one of the last things Ian Curtis of Joy Division did before hanging himself was to watch Herzog's Stroszeck (1977).
  • (9) But all that has changed since I discovered the sheer joy of hunting down items with “reduced” stickers at my local Waitrose.
  • (10) "She's very agile as a performer, and is able to deliver again and again so it's a very joyful watch."
  • (11) Many of my friends have been crying with joy this week.
  • (12) Waitrose evokes strong opinions: from sniffy derision about the supermarket's perceived airs and graces to expressions of joy from middle-class incomers when their gentrified area is blessed with a branch.
  • (13) He didn't go to university, but says he discovered the joy of learning for learning's sake when he was tutored on the Harry Potter sets.
  • (14) But their joy didn't last long; a week later, 11 rhino were found on a single day at two private ranches northwest of Johannesburg.
  • (15) To everyone's joy, both stories turned out to be true.
  • (16) The experiences that most often led to high levels of joy were those referrable to positive emotional events.
  • (17) However, nerves among the Stoke fans subsequently turned to joy and relief as a substitute, Mame Biram Diouf, headed in with seven minutes to go and confirmed victory.
  • (18) When Gould almost dies one night, and the next morning is instead given three or four days to live, she experiences a strange joy at the extra time granted, more precious hours to talk with him about their twin passions, Queens Park Rangers and the Labour party, more time to help him get his book finished.
  • (19) Vic Goddard, principal of Passmores academy in neighbouring Essex, the school featured in the TV series Educating Essex, who recently published a book about the joys of headship, The Best Job In The World, says the document spells out what is going on across the country.
  • (20) Joshua Ferris's novel about dentistry, virtual identity and the search for meaning is bitingly funny; Karen Joy Fowler draws on studies of chimpanzee behaviour to consider what it is that makes us human.