felicific

English

Adjective

felicific (comparative more felicific, superlative most felicific)

1. (rare, chiefly philosophy) Of, pertaining to, or producing pleasure or happiness.
   • 1895, John Grier Hibben, “Automatism in Morality”, in International Journal of Ethics, volume 5, number 4, page 467:

     Has conduct worth in and for itself, or only as its consequences are felicific as regards the social welfare?

   • 1980, Philip Drew, “Jane Austen and Bishop Butler”, in Nineteenth-Century Fiction, volume 35, number 2, pages 141–142:

     It is plain that for Jane Austen the settled habit of moral behavior was of far more importance than spontaneity of moral response, though that in turn was preferable to a calculated weighing of advantages, a point well illustrated when Elizabeth ironically advises Jane that if she is in doubt about whether she ought to accept Bingley she should decide the matter by striking a felicific balance.

   • 2005 February 7, James Gardner, “Remembering a Great Institution”, in New York Sun, retrieved 25 January 2009:

     The Langham is proof of the felicific power of good architecture, the power to promote, both in its inhabitants and in passers-by, happiness.

Derived terms

• felicific calculus

Related terms

• felicity

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.