An intense, often inflated sense of well-being and elation.
An intense, often inflated sense of well-being and elation — a word that began in medicine and still carries clinical and drug associations.
Set apart by its clinical pedigree: it began as a medical term and still evokes drug-induced or pathological highs, often with a subtly cautionary edge — a happiness that may be intense but unfounded, fleeting, or about to crash (“market euphoria,” “the euphoria subsided”). A sustained, diffuse mood-state, broader than the spike of ecstasy and without ecstasy or rapture's mystical element; not serene like bliss, not the outward display of jubilation. Closely overlaps elation.
An intense, buoyant sense of happiness and well-being.
The everyday sense; dominant in non-technical use from 1882.
A pathological or drug-induced state of elevated well-being.
The original register — a physician's term — and still common; “euphoric” (1885) referred originally to cocaine. Often used with a cautionary tone.
The joy or comfort felt when one's gender is affirmed or expressed.
A contemporary sense now recorded by Merriam-Webster; counterpart to “gender dysphoria.”
From Greek euphoria “power of enduring easily,” from euphoros “well-bearing” (eu- “well” + pherein “to carry”). It entered English as a physician's term (English use from the 1720s; Merriam-Webster dates a first use to 1665), with non-technical use from 1882.
Moved from a narrow medical term toward general intense happiness from 1882. The drug connotation is early (“euphoric” and the noun, 1885, originally of cocaine). A genuine recent addition: “gender euphoria,” now recorded by Merriam-Webster.