pleasure
Americannoun
-
pleasures
plural
-
the state or feeling of being pleased.
- Synonyms:
- delectation, gladness, happiness
-
enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one's liking; gratification; delight.
-
worldly or frivolous enjoyment.
the pursuit of pleasure.
-
recreation or amusement; diversion; enjoyment.
Are you traveling on business or for pleasure?
-
sensual gratification.
- Synonyms:
- voluptuousness
-
a cause or source of enjoyment or delight.
It was a pleasure to see you.
-
pleasurable quality.
the pleasure of his company.
-
one's will, desire, or choice.
to make known one's pleasure.
- Synonyms:
- predilection, inclination, wish, preference
verb (used with object)
-
pleasures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pleasured,
past participle, past
-
pleasuring
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
pleasures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pleasured,
past participle, past
-
pleasuring
present participle
-
to take pleasure; delight.
I pleasure in your company.
-
to seek pleasure, as by taking a holiday.
noun
-
an agreeable or enjoyable sensation or emotion
the pleasure of hearing good music
-
something that gives or affords enjoyment or delight
his garden was his only pleasure
-
-
amusement, recreation, or enjoyment
-
( as modifier )
a pleasure boat
pleasure ground
-
-
euphemistic sexual gratification or enjoyment
he took his pleasure of her
-
a person's preference or choice
verb
Synonym Usage
Pleasure, enjoyment, delight, joy refer to the feeling of being pleased and happy. Pleasure is the general term: to take pleasure in beautiful scenery. Enjoyment is a quiet sense of well-being and pleasurable satisfaction: enjoyment at sitting in the shade on a warm day. Delight is a high degree of pleasure, usually leading to active expression of it: delight at receiving a hoped-for letter. Joy is a feeling of delight so deep and so lasting that one radiates happiness and expresses it spontaneously: joy at unexpected good news.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pleasuresimple
-
pleasuressimple
-
have pleasuredperfect
-
has pleasuredperfect
-
am pleasuringprogressive
-
are pleasuringprogressive
-
is pleasuringprogressive
-
have been pleasuringperfect progressive
-
has been pleasuringperfect progressive
Past
-
pleasuredsimple
-
had pleasuredperfect
-
was pleasuringprogressive
-
were pleasuringprogressive
-
had been pleasuringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pleasure
First recorded in 1325–75; late Middle English ( see please, -ure); replacing Middle English plaisir, from Middle French (noun use of infinitive), from Latin placēre “to please”
Explanation
Pleasure is a general term for good feelings. People get pleasure from eating, sleeping, watching TV, or anything else they enjoy. Pleasure is the opposite of pain. Pain feels bad, but pleasure feels good. People talk about sexual pleasure, but that's just one kind. People get pleasure from delicious foods, great movies, beautiful music, and all sorts of other things. Something as small as a comfortable chair and something as big as your candidate being elected President can bring pleasure. If you had a good time hosting your friends for lunch, you can tell them "It was a pleasure."
Vocabulary lists containing pleasure
Spelling Practice, Unit 3
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Selection Vocabulary 3, Unit 6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Wanting is the motivational pull towards something; liking is the pleasure of having it.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Hearing it and listening can create more room to notice when we’re depleted, sad, overwhelmed, or craving pleasure too.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
Aaron Howlett says he had the pleasure of meeting Sir Tom 10 years ago, and found him "incredibly humble"
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
It’s just to put one small pleasure into motion.
From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2026
Ratwin was perched on the prow, and as they came in sight, she let out a cry of pleasure.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Reviews so far have been mixed, with the Guardian describing it as a "nostalgia-bait return", external which is as "strange and messy as the first" but with "warm seasonal pleasures to be had".
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
My husband enjoyed humble pleasures, and he had two favorite fast-casual restaurants where the food was good, the patrons were kind, and the staff were simply salt-of-the-earth people.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
“One of the great pleasures I have is walking into Dodger Stadium. It’s like I feel at peace,” Rob Reiner once said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
Touch some grass: From the archives: Ben Mathis-Lilley examines the pleasures and benefits of getting out and mowing the lawn.
From Slate ● Aug. 27, 2026
Although I felt myself to be a sophisticated young fellow, I was still a country boy who missed country pleasures.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Mayor Bill de Blasio let out a pleasured tweet of thanks, saluting the State Senate’s co-leaders, the Democrat Klein and that noted progressive, the Republican Dean Skelos.
From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2014
Last week he pleasured newshawks by presenting his weekly press conference with two enormous South Carolina melons, 3 ft. long and weighing, by report, 80 Ib. each.
From Time Magazine Archive
The newlyweds pleasured off to Italy, where Paul, who wanted to become a concert singer, studied.
From Time Magazine Archive
There the exiled King has pleasured himself with poker, backgammon, golf, visits to the El Patio nightclub, and a social whirl with some of the fastest climbers in Mexico.
From Time Magazine Archive
She would have laid her head beneath Alex Elder’s feet, if it would have pleasured him; and you are none behind her.
From The Orphans of Glen Elder by Margaret M. (Margaret Murray) Robertson
The act set Yellowstone aside as “a pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.”
From Washington Post ● Feb. 25, 2022
"Heartbroken at the passing of Bert — a talented, kind young man who I had the pleasuring of working with numerous times on #LetsStayTogether," she tweeted.
From Fox News ● Nov. 9, 2020
They videotaped one year’s pleasuring, he says, and “one pig caught its hoof in a grate and had a little drop of blood on its hoof.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2011
In that year Congress designated a vast area in what are now the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming as a public "pleasuring ground."
From Time Magazine Archive
A whole family had come in from Kioto for the day's pleasuring.
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
