These words all denote feelings of satisfaction or happiness. Pleasure is the most general term in the group. In its mildest sense, pleasure may be only an expression of politeness, or it may convey the more absence of discomfort.

• I have the pleasure of presenting our opening speaker; the patient rallied and was able to take some pleasure in his surroundings.

Pleasure may arise from a stimulation of the mind or the senses: the pleasure to be found in books; the pleasure of watching a spectacular sunset. In its strongest sense, pleasure emphasizes gratification of the senses, or it may refer to a round of futile and frivolous amusements that exclude meaningful activity. In this meaning pleasure may have a pejorative implication: the pleasures of the flesh; a rich young man who passed all his time in the relentless pursuit of pleasure .

Delight may be a strong feeling of pleasure , but it is likely to be sudden and transient: delighted cries of children on Christmas morning; to take delight in winning a chess match. Delight may also refer to that in which one takes quiet pleasure over a long span of time: the delights of spending one’s childhood on a farm.

Ecstasy and rapture denote intense or extreme exaltation, originally that accompanying religious or creative experience, but currently that of intense pleasure or delight . From earlier usage, ecstasy connotes a trance-like state wherein one "stands beside himself," conscious of neither surroundings nor self, but only of what one contemplates or feels: the ecstasy of a saint during a mystical experience. Ecstasy still implies such intensity of feeling that other perceptions are clouded over: the ecstasy of first love. Rapture , in its original sense, connotes being seized or lifted up, as by divine power. It is now closely related in meaning to ecstasy . Both words are commonly used hyperbolically to describe almost any degree of pleasure or excitement: in a state of ecstasy at having won a scholarship; a child ecstatic over a new puppy.

Joy is sometimes used interchangeably with pleasure , delight , ecstasy or rapture , but it implies greater intensity than does pleasure , longer duration than does delight , and is seldom so intense an experience as rapture or ecstasy : the joy of watching the signs of returning spring after a hard winter; the joys of living in a warm, affectionate family setting.

Enjoyment and delectation may be used as mild synonyms for delight , joy or pleasure , but both these words denote action accompanying these feelings rather than the feelings themselves. Enjoyment is the savouring of what is pleasing; delectation implies a giving over of oneself to something that amuses or diverts: the enjoyment of conversing with good friends; the delectation of the theatre.

Fun is literally lighthearted playfulness or jesting.

• He is full of fun ; We like to insult one another in fun .

Fun is also a general term that may apply to any diversion which affords enjoyment, or to the enjoyment itself.

• Picnics are fun ; We had fun riding our bicycles to the beach today.

It may also be applied to an activity that engages one’s interest or imagination, an activity that may prove to be more than a diversion and may involve hard work: the fun of learning to play the piano; a lucky man who finds both fun and challenge in his profession; breeding pedigreed dogs for fun rather than for profit.

Glee , once a common synonym for exuberant joy or for merriment, has in recent times taken on strong overtones of a malicious pleasure in another’s discomfiture or bad luck: clapping their hands in glee at the defeat of their opponent; the ghoulish glee of an 18th-century crowd at a public execution.