pleasure

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English

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Etymology

From 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 placēre (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European *plā-k- (“wide and flat”). Related to Dutch plezier (“pleasure, fun”). More at please.

Pronunciation

Noun

pleasure (countable and uncountable, plural pleasures)

  1. (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
  2. (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.
    • Bible, Acts xxv. 9
      Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:
      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. […]
  3. (uncountable) One's preference.
    Synonyms: desire, fancy, want, will, wish
    What is your pleasure: coffee or tea?
  4. (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

Derived terms

Related terms

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Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Interjection

pleasure

  1. pleased to meet you, "It's my pleasure"

Verb

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  1. (transitive) To give or afford pleasure to.
    Synonyms: please, gratify
    • (Can we date this quote by Tennyson and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      [Rolled] his hoop to pleasure Edith.
  2. (transitive) To give sexual pleasure to.
    Johnny pleasured Jackie orally last night.
  3. (intransitive, dated) To take pleasure; to seek or pursue pleasure.
    to go pleasuring

Translations

Related terms

Further reading

Anagrams

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