Hello falentino, Glad: means being contended and pleased , in that sense it is closer in meaning to "happy" ,but it also means very willing to do something as in "He was glad to help". Happy: It is also being glad and pleased but expressing a higher degree of joy ,it could also mean fortunate or lucky. Someone who is happy has feelings of pleasure because something nice has happened or they are satisfied in general with their life. Apart from that "happy" is used in greetings when you hope that someone enjoys a special occasion as in : "Happy Birthday" , "Happy Easter" ..etc The main difference between them lies in the fact that being happy is for special occasions and instant events as well as for long term state of mind. You can be happy because something nice happened and you can be a happy person in general as previously mentioned. Being glad is more connected with an incident or a reason for having such a feeling. Usually you don't say he is a glad person or he is leading a glad life, it is more of an instant feeling linked with a certain trigger for being pleased or content.

Some synonyms of "glad": happy, pleased, content, delighted. Antonym of "glad": sad Synonyms of "happy": glad, pleased, content, cheerful, delighted. Antonyms of "happy": sad