pleasure
Etymology
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Etymology
From Early Modern English pleasur, plesur, alteration (with ending accommodated to -ure) of Middle English plaisir, from Old French plesir, plaisir ("to please"), infinitive used as a noun, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin placeō, from the Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-k-.
Pronunciation Nounpleasure
- (uncountable) A state of being pleased or contented; gratification.
- Synonyms: delight, gladness, gratification, happiness, indulgence, satisfaction
- Antonyms: displeasure, pain
- He remembered with pleasure his home and family.
- I get a lot of pleasure from watching others work hard while I relax.
- (countable) A person, thing or action that causes enjoyment.
- Synonyms: delight, joy
- It was a pleasure to meet you.
- Having a good night's sleep is one of life's little pleasures.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
- The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; […] . Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.
- (uncountable) Sexual enjoyment.
- (uncountable) One's preference.
- Synonyms: desire, fancy, want, will, wish
- What is your pleasure: coffee or tea?
- (formal, uncountable) The will or desire of someone or some agency in power.
- Synonyms: discretion
- to hold an office at pleasure: to hold it indefinitely until it is revoked
- to be imprisoned at Her Majesty's pleasure: to be imprisoned indefinitely
- at Congress's pleasure: whenever or as long as Congress desires
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:
- Use your pleasure; if your love do not persuade you to come, let not my letter.
- French: plaisir
- German: Vergnügen
- Italian: piacere, piacimento, goduria
- Portuguese: prazer
- Russian: удово́льствие
- Spanish: placer
- French: plaisir
- German: Freude, Spaß
- Italian: piacere
- Portuguese: prazer
- Russian: удово́льствие
- Spanish: placer
- French: volupté
- German: Wollust
- Italian: voluttà
- Portuguese: voluptuosidade
- Russian: наслажде́ние
- Spanish: voluptuosidad
- French: désir
- Italian: preferenza, scelta
- Russian: скло́нность
- Italian: piacimento
- pleased to meet you, "It's my pleasure"
pleasure (pleasures, present participle pleasuring; simple past and past participle pleasured)
- (transitive) To give or afford pleasure to.
- Synonyms: please, gratify
- (transitive) To give sexual pleasure to.
- Johnny pleasured Jackie with his mouth last night.
- (intransitive, dated) To take pleasure; to seek or pursue pleasure.
- to go pleasuring
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
