complaisant

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

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.

Origin of complaisant

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

Related formscom·plai·sant·ly, adverbnon·com·plai·sant, adjectivenon·com·plai·sant·ly, adverbun·com·plai·sant, adjectiveun·com·plai·sant·ly, adverb

Can be confusedcomplacent complaisant compliant

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

Related Words for complaisant

accommodating, amiable, compliant, conciliatory, deferential, easy, friendly, generous, good-humored, good-natured, indulgent, lenient, mild, obliging, polite, solicitous, submissive, good-tempered, easy-going

Examples from the Web for complaisant

Historical Examples of complaisant

And loves me just enough to advise me to be complaisant to a man I despise.
A Comedy of Marriage and Other Tales
Guy De Maupassant
He could even, when so disposed, become gentle and complaisant.
The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck
Baron Trenck
But she who had murmured as a wife was not complaisant as a mistress.
Paul Clifford, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Even the most complaisant women like at least the appearance of a siege.
A Little Journey in the World
Charles Dudley Warner
Probably of the complaisant model who ventures into Lochias at night?
The Emperor, Complete
Georg Ebers

British Dictionary definitions for complaisant

complaisant

adjective

showing a desire to comply or oblige; polite

Derived Formscomplaisantly, 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

Word Origin and History for complaisant

adj.

1640s, from French complaisant (16c.), in Middle French, "pleasing," present participle of complaire "acquiesce to please," from Latin complacere "be very pleasing" (see complacent, with which it overlapped till mid-19c.). Possibly influenced in French by Old French plaire "gratify."