complaisant

[ kuh m-pley-suh nt, -zuh nt, kom-pluh-zant ]

/ kəmˈpleɪ sənt, -zənt, ˈkɒm pləˌzænt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR complaisant ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

inclined or disposed to please; obliging; agreeable or gracious; compliant: the most complaisant child I've ever met.

Nearby words

complacent, complain, complainant, complaint, complaisance, complaisant, complanate, compleat, compleat angler, the, complect, complected

Origin of complaisant

1640–50; < French (present participle of complaire) < Latin complacent- (stem of complacēns, present participle of complacēre; see complacent)

Related forms

com·plai·sant·ly, adverbnon·com·plai·sant, adjectivenon·com·plai·sant·ly, adverbun·com·plai·sant, adjective

un·com·plai·sant·ly, adverb

Can be confused

complacent complaisant compliant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for complaisant

It was well enough inclined, too, to be complaisant to the king of England.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations|Adam Smith
In fact it is the complaisant We would willingly have others perfect and yet we amend not our own faults.
The Girl Wanted|Nixon Waterman
Or perhaps they are only complaisant, and, in the passing years, will permit the people to think that this is so.
The Way of the Gods|John Luther Long
This Prince was so complaisant as to order one of his Gentlemen to go with me.
The Memoirs of Charles-Lewis, Baron de Pollnitz, Volume I|Karl Ludwig von Pllnitz

Her grandmother abandoned in a moment an attempt to be complaisant, and sternly ordered her to attend to Colonel McLane's chamber.
The Entailed Hat|George Alfred Townsend

British Dictionary definitions for complaisant

complaisant

/ (kəmˈpleɪzənt) /

adjective

showing a desire to comply or oblige; polite

Derived Forms

complaisantly, adverb

Word Origin for complaisant

C17: from French complaire, from Latin complacēre to please greatly; compare complacent

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012