Language tip of the week: make someone feel happy

In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. In this series of language tips to accompany the Real Vocabulary theme we look at how you can expand your vocabulary in English by using different words and expressions instead of core vocabulary items.

This set of language tips will explore the words and phrases we use to talk about feelings. This week’s tip looks at verbs and phrases that mean to make someone feel happy:

make someone happy to make someone feel happy:
I’ve tried everything I can think of to make him happy. ♦ It makes me happy to see the children playing together.
please someone to make someone feel happy and satisfied:
He’ll do anything to please her. ♦ Some people are very hard to please.
satisfy someone to please someone by giving them what they want or need:
It’s impossible to satisfy everyone.
cheer someone up to make someone feel happier when they have been feeling upset or fed up:
I know just what will cheer you up.

Did you know that Macmillan Dictionary includes a full thesaurus? This page lists more ways to talk about ‘making someone feel happy‘.