enjoy
- to experience with joy; take pleasure in: He enjoys Chinese food.
- to have and use with satisfaction; have the benefit of: He enjoys an excellent income from his trust funds.
- to find or experience pleasure for (oneself): She seems to enjoy herself at everything she does.
- to undergo (an improvement): Automobile manufacturers have enjoyed a six-percent rise in sales over the past month.
- to have intercourse with.
Origin of enjoy
Synonyms
See more synonyms for enjoy on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for enjoys
Contemporary Examples
The demonic ‘anti-Santa’ enjoys an unlikely renaissance as we learn to embrace our inner pagan.
Laskey, who earned a degree in psychology, enjoys painting and poetry.
Zoe enjoys being able to share her stories with her friends and classmates.
Conrad, you see, is in an open marriage and enjoys a little submission and a little pain with her sex.
But even if she did enjoy it, even if she enjoys the attention, so what?
Historical Examples
He enjoys not a little--it has been often said--of the position of posterity.
De Libris: Prose and VerseAustin Dobson
New-Haven enjoys an elephant that has corns, and is about to be operated on by a chiropodist.
Can they prolong their own possession, or lengthen his days who enjoys them?
Joseph Andrews, Vol. 2Henry Fielding
The perpetrator is educated, wise, enjoys the respect of his fellows.
The Hunted OutlawAnonymous
As a man he enjoys the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens.
Cleveland Past and PresentMaurice Joblin
enjoy
- to receive pleasure from; take joy in
- to have the benefit of; use with satisfaction
- to have as a condition; experiencethe land enjoyed a summer of rain
- archaic to have sexual intercourse with
- enjoy oneself to have a good time
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for enjoys
enjoy
v.
late 14c., "rejoice, be glad" (intransitive), from Old French enjoir "to give joy, rejoice, take delight in," from en- "make" (see en- (1)) + joir "enjoy," from Latin gaudere "rejoice" (see joy); Sense of "have the use or benefit of" first recorded early 15c. (replacing Old English brucan; see brook (v.)).
Meaning "take pleasure in" is mid-15c. In modern use it has a tendency to lose its connection with pleasure: newspaper photo captions say someone enjoys an ice cream cone, etc., when all she is doing is eating it, and Wright's "English Dialect Dictionary" (1900) reports widespread use in north and west England of the phrase to enjoy bad health for one who has ailments. Related: Enjoyed; enjoying; enjoys.