pleasure
Americannoun
-
pleasures
plural
-
the state or feeling of being pleased.
- Synonyms:
- delectation, gladness, happiness
-
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.
- Synonyms:
- voluptuousness
-
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.
- Synonyms:
- predilection, inclination, wish, preference
verb (used with object)
-
pleasures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pleasured,
past participle, past
-
pleasuring
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
pleasures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pleasured,
past participle, past
-
pleasuring
present participle
-
to take pleasure; delight.
I pleasure in your company.
-
to seek pleasure, as by taking a holiday.
noun
-
an agreeable or enjoyable sensation or emotion
the pleasure of hearing good music
-
something that gives or affords enjoyment or delight
his garden was his only pleasure
-
-
amusement, recreation, or enjoyment
-
( as modifier )
a pleasure boat
pleasure ground
-
-
euphemistic sexual gratification or enjoyment
he took his pleasure of her
-
a person's preference or choice
verb
Synonym Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pleasuresimple
-
pleasuressimple
-
have pleasuredperfect
-
has pleasuredperfect
-
am pleasuringprogressive
-
are pleasuringprogressive
-
is pleasuringprogressive
-
have been pleasuringperfect progressive
-
has been pleasuringperfect progressive
Past
-
pleasuredsimple
-
had pleasuredperfect
-
was pleasuringprogressive
-
were pleasuringprogressive
-
had been pleasuringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pleasure
First recorded in 1325–75; late Middle English ( see please, -ure); replacing Middle English plaisir, from Middle French (noun use of infinitive), from Latin placēre “to please”
Explanation
Pleasure is a general term for good feelings. People get pleasure from eating, sleeping, watching TV, or anything else they enjoy. Pleasure is the opposite of pain. Pain feels bad, but pleasure feels good. People talk about sexual pleasure, but that's just one kind. People get pleasure from delicious foods, great movies, beautiful music, and all sorts of other things. Something as small as a comfortable chair and something as big as your candidate being elected President can bring pleasure. If you had a good time hosting your friends for lunch, you can tell them "It was a pleasure."
Vocabulary lists containing pleasure
Spelling Practice, Unit 3
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Selection Vocabulary 3, Unit 6
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I posted about the pleasure I took in the work — the inky, jazzy perfection of these bombastic photographs — and Gerald and I struck up a conversation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026
"From myself, Ned, and Longmeadow it's the final goodbye," he said on the programme, adding it had been "a privilege and pleasure" to share his garden experiences with so many people.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026
Throwing on “Real Housewives” or “Love Island” is a guilty pleasure for many of us after a tiring workday.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
"We're not focused on people losing weight for the pleasure of it," Soriot told the media call.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
A photograph of the two young women in flight helmets, grinning with pleasure, was splashed on the cover.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
He said his parents were deeply religious and so strict that even simple pleasures such as singing were forbidden.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
In “Death of an Ordinary Man,” Ms. Perry offers an endearing and achingly real portrait of her father-in-law: his set ways, gentle pleasures, sweet tooth and general contentment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Could there be a place where Joan and Jean don’t have to sacrifice their codependent sisterly bond to enjoy life’s pleasures?
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
They talk to David Wallace Lockhart about their party’s failures, the route to indyref2 and guilty pleasures.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
I'm just too old and worn-out to share their excitement over such innocent pleasures as a boat ride down the Seine or a potluck picnic at the base of the Eiffel Tower.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Mayor Bill de Blasio let out a pleasured tweet of thanks, saluting the State Senate’s co-leaders, the Democrat Klein and that noted progressive, the Republican Dean Skelos.
From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2014
Schoolma'am Marie Campbell, who put together this book, was pleasured a heap to sit alistening to the olden tales and to write them down so they would keep.
From Time Magazine Archive
The newlyweds pleasured off to Italy, where Paul, who wanted to become a concert singer, studied.
From Time Magazine Archive
Last week he pleasured newshawks by presenting his weekly press conference with two enormous South Carolina melons, 3 ft. long and weighing, by report, 80 Ib. each.
From Time Magazine Archive
Master William Burrowgh, Clarke of her Maiesties nauie and Master Anthonie Ienkinson, both gentlemen of great experience, and obseruations in the north Regions, haue much pleasured me in the second part.
From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 01 by Richard Hakluyt
The act set Yellowstone aside as “a pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.”
From Washington Post ● Feb. 25, 2022
"Heartbroken at the passing of Bert — a talented, kind young man who I had the pleasuring of working with numerous times on #LetsStayTogether," she tweeted.
From Fox News ● Nov. 9, 2020
They videotaped one year’s pleasuring, he says, and “one pig caught its hoof in a grate and had a little drop of blood on its hoof.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2011
In that year Congress designated a vast area in what are now the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming as a public "pleasuring ground."
From Time Magazine Archive
She was as eager and delighted as if she were bent on a day's pleasuring.
From The Life of Nancy by Sarah Orne Jewett
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
