pleasantries

English

Noun

pleasantries

1. plural of pleasantry

Noun

pleasantries pl (plural only)

1. A short polite conversation before a serious conversation.

   exchanging pleasantries

2. For bad language as a euphemism.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 221:

     Signora Caterina thought it could. Weak, yet cunning—vain, yet conscious of having outlived her attractions—with one of those tempers which we conceive to be the true interpretation of the old fairy tale, where out of the mouth of the party proceeded snakes, toads, locusts, and other pleasantries.

See also

• formalities

Anagrams

• anistreplase, paternalises