pleasantry

[ plez-uhn-tree ]
See synonyms for: pleasantrypleasantries on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural pleas·ant·ries.
  1. good-humored teasing; banter.

  2. a humorous or jesting remark.

  1. a courteous social remark used to initiate or facilitate a conversation: to exchange pleasantries.

  2. a humorous action.

Origin of pleasantry

1
1645–55; <French plaisanterie,Old French plesanterie.See pleasant, -ry

Words Nearby pleasantry

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pleasantry in a sentence

  • But this pleasantry, excellent as pleasantry, hardly deserves serious refutation.

  • It is a continental form of pleasantry, and an artistic experiment in blasphemy which is taken seriously by the unwise.

    Devil-Worship in France | Arthur Edward Waite
  • She looked up with a sort of half smile, as if she suspected some pleasantry of which she had not yet detected the drift.

    With Edged Tools | Henry Seton Merriman
  • "I think there is no necessity for carrying a pleasantry into our private life," she said, in a perfectly amiable voice.

    In Search of the Unknown | Robert W. Chambers
  • This was evidently local pleasantry, for the old man cackled over it, and his cronies joined in with gusto.

    Dracula | Bram Stoker

British Dictionary definitions for pleasantry

pleasantry

/ (ˈplɛzəntrɪ) /


nounplural -ries
  1. (often plural) an agreeable or amusing remark, often one made in order to be polite: they exchanged pleasantries

  2. an agreeably humorous manner or style

  1. rare enjoyment; pleasantness: a pleasantry of life

Origin of pleasantry

1
C17: from French plaisanterie, from plaisant pleasant

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