pleasure

[plezh-er]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pleasure ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the state or feeling of being pleased.

enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one's liking; gratification; delight.

worldly or frivolous enjoyment: the pursuit of pleasure.

recreation or amusement; diversion; enjoyment: Are you traveling on business or for pleasure?

sensual gratification.

a cause or source of enjoyment or delight: It was a pleasure to see you.

pleasurable quality: the pleasure of his company.

one's will, desire, or choice: to make known one's pleasure.

verb (used with object), pleas·ured, pleas·ur·ing.

to give pleasure to; gratify; please.

verb (used without object), pleas·ured, pleas·ur·ing.

to take pleasure; delight: I pleasure in your company.

to seek pleasure, as by taking a holiday.

Origin of pleasure

1325–75; late Middle English (see please, -ure); replacing Middle English plaisir < Middle French (noun use of infinitive) < Latin placēre to please

Related formspleas·ure·ful, adjectivepleas·ure·less, adjectivepleas·ure·less·ly, adverban·ti·pleas·ure, noun, adjective

Synonyms for pleasure

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pleasure ON THESAURUS.COM

1. happiness, gladness, delectation. Pleasure, enjoyment, delight, joy refer to the feeling of being pleased and happy. Pleasure is the general term: to take pleasure in beautiful scenery. Enjoyment is a quiet sense of well-being and pleasurable satisfaction: enjoyment at sitting in the shade on a warm day. Delight is a high degree of pleasure, usually leading to active expression of it: delight at receiving a hoped-for letter. Joy is a feeling of delight so deep and so lasting that one radiates happiness and expresses it spontaneously: joy at unexpected good news. 5. voluptuousness. 8. preference, wish, inclination, predilection.

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

Related Words for pleasuring

satisfy, gratify, rejoice, thrill, attract, amuse, please, cheer, entertain, charm, enrapture, enchant, wow, fascinate, slay, allure, jubilate, tickle, send, content

Examples from the Web for pleasuring

Contemporary Examples of pleasuring

Arias claimed she had once caught him pleasuring himself while looking at photos of a little boy wearing only underwear.
Will Jodi Arias Go Free?
Christine Pelisek
May 3, 2013

Historical Examples of pleasuring

Darkness was coming on, and for a while he played about among the trees, pleasuring in his freedom.
White Fang
Jack London
He is off pleasuring, and the other is here planning and toiling.
Floyd Grandon's Honor
Amanda Minnie Douglas
I shall look after her clothes, education, pleasuring, as if she were my own child.
Sisters Three
Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
Come, mama; you don't grudge them a day's pleasuring, I'm sure.
Esther's Charge
Evelyn Everett-Green
Their pleasuring is on so large a scale that you cannot make it fit your times or necessities.
The Oxford Book of American Essays
Various

British Dictionary definitions for pleasuring

pleasure

noun

an agreeable or enjoyable sensation or emotionthe pleasure of hearing good music

something that gives or affords enjoyment or delighthis garden was his only pleasure

amusement, recreation, or enjoyment
(as modifier)a pleasure boat; pleasure ground

euphemistic sexual gratification or enjoymenthe took his pleasure of her

a person's preference or choice

verb

(when intr, often foll by in) to give pleasure to or take pleasure (in)

Derived Formspleasureful, adjectivepleasureless, adjective

Word Origin for pleasure

C14 plesir, from Old French; related to Old French plaisir to please

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 pleasuring

pleasure

late 14c., "condition of enjoyment," from Old French plesir, also plaisir "enjoyment, delight, desire, will" (12c.), from noun use of infinitive plaisir (v.) "to please," from Latin placere "to please, give pleasure, be approved" (see please (v.)). Ending altered in English 14c. by influence of words in -ure (measure, etc.). Meaning "sensual enjoyment as the chief object of life" is attested from 1520s.

pleasure

1530s, "to take pleasure in;" 1550s as "give pleasure to," from pleasure (n.). Sexual sense by 1610s. Related: Pleasured; pleasuring.