(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, James Gardner, "Remembering a Great Institution," New York Sun, 7 Feb. (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.
