complaisant

English

Etymology

From French complaisant (“willing to please”), from complaire, from Latin complacēre, present active infinitive of complaceō (“please well”), from com- (“with”) + placeō (“please”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpleɪsənt/
• Homophone: complacent
• (US) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpleɪsənt/, /kəmˈpleɪzənt/

Adjective

complaisant (comparative more complaisant, superlative most complaisant)

1. Compliant.
2. Willing to do what pleases others; obliging.
3. (archaic) Polite; showing respect.

Usage notes

• Complaisant should not be confused with its homophone, complacent.

Derived terms

• complaisantly

Related terms

• complaisance

Translations

compliant

• Bulgarian: отстъпчив (bg) (otstǎpčiv)
• Dutch: voldoend (nl) (aan (nl)), passend (nl)
• Esperanto: cedema
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: føyelig (no)

• Swedish: foglig (sv)

willing to do what pleases others

• Bulgarian: внимателен (bg) (vnimatelen), любезен (bg) (ljubezen)
• Dutch: tegemoetkomend (nl), welwillend (nl), willig (nl)
• Esperanto: komplezema
• French: complaisant (fr)
• German: gefällig (de), entgegenkommend (de), wohlwollend (de)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: imøtekommende, velvillig (no), villig

• Spanish: complaciente (es)
• Swedish: tillmötesgående (sv)

polite

• Bulgarian: вежлив (bg) (vežliv)
• Dutch: tegemoetkomend (nl), vriendelijk (nl), respectvol (nl)
• Esperanto: bonmaniera, ĝentila (eo)
• Swedish: artig (sv)

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.plɛ.zɑ̃/, /kɔ̃.ple.zɑ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Participle

complaisant

1. present participle of complaire

Adjective

complaisant (feminine complaisante, masculine plural complaisants, feminine plural complaisantes)

1. complaisant, obliging, eager to please

Derived terms

• mari complaisant

Further reading

• “complaisant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.