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," International Journal of Ethics, vol. 5, no. 4, p. 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," Nineteenth-Century Fiction, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 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 Feb. 7, James Gardner, "Remembering a Great Institution," New York Sun (retrieved 25 Jan 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.