complaisant
[kuh m-pley-suh nt, -zuh nt, kom-pluh-zant]
- inclined or disposed to please; obliging; agreeable or gracious; compliant: the most complaisant child I've ever met.
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Origin of complaisant
1640–50; < French (present participle of complaire) < Latin complacent- (stem of complacēns, present participle of complacēre; see complacent)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for complaisant
Historical Examples
And loves me just enough to advise me to be complaisant to a man I despise.
A Comedy of Marriage and Other TalesGuy De Maupassant
He could even, when so disposed, become gentle and complaisant.
The Life and Adventures of Baron TrenckBaron Trenck
But she who had murmured as a wife was not complaisant as a mistress.
Paul Clifford, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
Even the most complaisant women like at least the appearance of a siege.
A Little Journey in the WorldCharles Dudley Warner
Probably of the complaisant model who ventures into Lochias at night?
The Emperor, CompleteGeorg Ebers
complaisant
- showing a desire to comply or oblige; polite
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Word Origin
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
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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."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper