pleasure
English
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
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈplɛʒə/, /ˈplezjʊə/
- (General American) enPR: plĕzhʹər, IPA(key): /ˈplɛʒɚ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛʒə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: pleas‧ure
Noun
pleasure (countable and uncountable, plural pleasures)
- (uncountable) A state of being pleased or contented; gratification.
- 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.
- (countable) A person, thing or action that causes enjoyment.
- 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. […]
- (uncountable) One's preference.
- What is your pleasure: coffee or tea?
- (formal, uncountable) The will or desire of someone or some agency in power.
- 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
- Bible, Isaiah xlviii. 14
- He will do his pleasure on Babylon.
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- Use your pleasure; if your love do not persuade you to come, let not my letter.
Synonyms
- (state of mind) delight, gladness, gratification, happiness, indulgence, satisfaction
- (person or thing that causes enjoyment): delight, joy
- (preference) desire, fancy, want, will, wish
- (will or desire of party in power) discretion
Antonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
- 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
- have the pleasure
- it's a pleasure
- lady of pleasure
- man of pleasure
- my 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-giving
- pleasure ground
- pleasurehood
- pleasure house
- the pleasure is all mine, the pleasure's all mine
- the pleasure is mine, the pleasure's mine
- pleasureless
- pleasure-loving
- pleasurement
- pleasure moment
- pleasuremonger
- pleasure of someone's company
- pleasure-pain principle
- pleasure principle
- pleasurer
- pleasure-seeker
- pleasure-seeking
- pleasures of the flesh
- pleasures of the table
- pleasure steamer
- pleasure trip
- pleasure-unpleasure principle
- pleasuring
- pleasurist
- pleasurous
- sexual pleasure
- to one's pleasure, to pleasure
- unpleasure
- western pleasure
- with pleasure
- woman of pleasure
Translations
a state of being pleased
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person or thing that causes 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, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked: "one's preference"
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Verb
pleasure (third-person singular simple present pleasures, present participle pleasuring, simple past and past participle pleasured)
- (transitive) To give or afford pleasure to; to please; to gratify.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
- (Can we date this quote?) Tennyson
- [Rolled] his hoop to pleasure Edith.
- (transitive) To give sexual pleasure to.
- Johnny pleasured Jackie orally last night.
- (intransitive, dated) To take pleasure; to seek or pursue pleasure.
- to go pleasuring
Related terms
Further reading
- pleasure in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- pleasure in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Anagrams
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