Dictionary.com

6 results for: Complaisant

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
com·plai·sant    Audio Help   [kuhm-pley-suhnt, -zuhnt, kom-pluh-zant] Pronunciation Key
–adjective
inclined or disposed to please; obliging; agreeable or gracious; compliant: the most complaisant child I've ever met.
[Origin: 1640–50; < F (prp. of complaire) < L complacent- (s. of complacéns, prp. of complacére; see complacent)]

—Related forms
com·plai·sant·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Complaisant

To learn more about Complaisant visit Britannica.com

© 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
com·plai·sant    Audio Help   (kəm-plā'sənt, -zənt)  Pronunciation Key 
adj.   Exhibiting a desire or willingness to please; cheerfully obliging.


[French, from Old French, present participle of complaire, to please, from Latin complacēre; see complacent.]

com·plai'sant·ly adv.
(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
complaisant 
1647, from Fr. complaisant (16c.), from M.Fr., "pleasing," prp. of complaire "acquiesce to please," from L. complacere "be very pleasing" (see complacent, with which it overlapped till mid-19c.).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
complaisant

adjective
showing a cheerful willingness to do favors for others; "to close one's eyes like a complaisant husband whose wife has taken a lover"; "the obliging waiter was in no hurry for us to leave" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Complaisant

Com*pla"cent\, a. [L. complacens very pleasing, p. pr. of complacere; com- + placere to please: cf. F. complaisant. See Please and cf. Complaisant.] Self-satisfied; contented; kindly; as, a complacent temper; a complacent smile.

They look up with a sort of complacent awe . . . to kings. --Burke.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

View results from: Dictionary | Thesaurus | Encyclopedia | All Reference | the Web

Share This:   Share This: del.icio.usShare This: digg.comShare This: FacebookShare This: furl.netShare This: www.netscape.comShare This: myweb2.search.yahoo.comShare This: www.stumbleupon.comShare This: www.google.comShare This: www.technorati.comShare This: blinklist.comShare This: newsvine.comShare This: ma.gnolia.comShare This: reddit.comShare This: favorites.live.comShare This: tailrank.com

Perform a new search, or try your search for "Complaisant" at: