pleasure
English
editEtymology
editFrom Early Modern English pleasur, plesur, alteration (with ending accommodated to -ure) of Middle English plaisir (“pleasure”), from Old French plesir, plaisir (“to please”), infinitive used as a noun, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin placeō (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-k- (“wide and flat”). Related to Dutch plezier (“pleasure, fun”). More at please.
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈplɛʒə/
- (General American) enPR: plĕzhʹər, IPA(key): /ˈplɛʒɚ/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛʒə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: pleas‧ure
Noun
editpleasure (countable and uncountable, plural pleasures)
- (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.
- 2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:
- But the only statistic that will concern West Brom will be the scoreline, and their manager Roy Hodgson will take considerable pleasure from a victory over the club he managed for just 191 days.
- 2019, Toro y Moi (lyrics and music), “Ordinary Pleasure”, in Outer Peace:
- Maximize all the pleasure / Even with all this weather / Nothing can make it better / Maximize all the pleasure
- (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.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 25:9:
- Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure
- 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.
- 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19:
- In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. The welfare state is dismantled. […]
- (uncountable) Sexual enjoyment.
- (uncountable) One's preference.
- (formal, uncountable) The will or desire of someone or some agency in power.
- Synonym: 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.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 48:14:
- He will do his pleasure on Babylon.
Derived terms
edit- antipleasure
- at Her Majesty's pleasure, at His Majesty's pleasure
- at one's pleasure, at pleasure
- business before pleasure
- do someone a pleasure
- do someone the pleasure of
- during Her Majesty's pleasure, during His Majesty's pleasure
- during one's pleasure, during pleasure
- end-pleasure
- English pleasure
- fore-pleasure
- gold of pleasure, gold-of-pleasure, gold-pleasure
- guilty pleasure
- have the pleasure
- it's a pleasure
- lady of pleasure
- live at Her Majesty's pleasure
- man of pleasure
- mix business with pleasure
- my pleasure
- oral pleasure
- pleasurable
- pleasurance
- pleasure barge
- pleasure boat
- pleasure-carriage
- pleasure center, pleasure centre
- pleasure craft
- pleasure cruise
- pleasure curve
- pleasured
- pleasure dome
- pleasuredrome
- pleasureful
- pleasure garden
- pleasure-giving
- pleasure ground
- pleasurehood
- pleasure house
- pleasureless
- pleasure-loving
- pleasurement
- pleasure moment
- pleasuremonger
- pleasure of someone's company
- pleasure-pain principle
- pleasure principle
- pleasurer
- pleasure seeker
- pleasure-seeker
- pleasure-seeking
- pleasures of the flesh
- pleasures of the table
- pleasure steamer
- pleasure trip
- pleasure-unpleasure principle
- pleasuring
- pleasurist
- pleasurous
- self-pleasure
- sexual pleasure
- take pleasure
- the pleasure is all mine
- the pleasure is all mine, the pleasure's all mine
- the pleasure is mine, the pleasure's mine
- to one's pleasure, to pleasure
- to what do I owe the pleasure
- unpleasure
- western pleasure
- what's your pleasure
- with pleasure
- woman of pleasure
Translations
edita state of being pleased
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person or thing that causes enjoyment
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sexual enjoyment
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one's preference
the will or desire of someone or some agency in power
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked: "one's preference"
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Interjection
editpleasure
- pleased to meet you, "It's my pleasure"
Verb
editpleasure (third-person singular simple present pleasures, present participle pleasuring, simple past and past participle pleasured)
- (transitive) To give or afford pleasure to.
- 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 55:
- [H]e / [...] / Had tost his ball and flown his kite, and roll'd / His hoop to pleasure Edith, [...]
- (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
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editto give pleasure to
Further reading
edit- “pleasure”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “pleasure”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
editCategories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *pleh₂-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛʒə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/ɛʒə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English formal terms
- English interjections
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English dated terms
- en:Emotions