These words refer to the raising of someone’s morale or to the creating of a positive or lively frame of mind. Cheer suggests, most concretely, that some occurrence has given a boost to an otherwise despondent outlook: We were cheered that the sun had finally come out and would at least dry our damp, clammy clothing; cheered by news that one helicopter had sighted a feeble fire farther up the mountain slope. Encourage , like cheer , may refer to a raising of morale; as such it implies a resulting frame of mind that is less hopeful than with cheer : encouraged to look back on the considerable distance they had come, but still uneasy about the distance they had yet to cross. In another context, encourage may suggest the awakening of interest in someone else through sympathetic concern: He had been encouraged by his teacher to take his writing seriously.

Gladden may suggest the same situation as cheer , but like encourage it can function in its own context, without reference to the raising of a flagging morale: gladdened by their success at building a fire big enough to be seen a good distance off; gladdened by the news that he had become the grandfather of twins. Gladden can sometimes, however, sound faintly outdated or a shade too formal when compared with cheer and especially with encourage . Warm may refer to a revival of morale or to a simple intensity of emotion, deeper than that implied by cheer or gladden : warmed by the ease with which they had cleaned up what had seemed the hopeless mess before them; warmed to know that her savings would go towards seeing her nephew through university.

Exhilarate is unique among these words in suggesting a situation in which one is filled with a bracing exuberance and zest: He felt listless until the sea breeze exhilarated him and steadied his nerves.