please
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /pliːz/
enpr: plēz
ipa: /pliz/
rhymes: -iːz
homophone: pleas
Forms: form: pleases
form: pleasing
form: pleased
form: pleased
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: please
form: please
form: pleased
form: pleas'd
form: please
form: pleasest
form: pleased
form: pleasedst
form: pleas'd
form: pleases
form: pleaseth
form: pleased
form: pleas'd
form: please
form: pleased
form: pleas'd
form: please
form: pleased
form: pleas'd
form: please
form: -
form: pleasing
form: pleased
form: pleas'd
form: pleace
form: plaise
Etymology: From Middle English plesen, plaisen, borrowed from Old French plaise, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin placeō (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European *pleHk- (“pleasingness, permission”). In this sense, displaced native Old English līcian, whence Modern English like.
Senses: examples: text: Her presentation pleased the executives.
text: I'm pleased to see you've been behaving yourself.
text: Our new range of organic foods is sure to please.
text: And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties ; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, […].
ref: 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
text: How can an operator be, at the same time, top for overall satisfaction and bottom for value for money? I turned to Anthony Smith for the answer, leaning on his 20 years running Transport Focus and its predecessors.
It's commuters, he explained. "You can't please commuters, you can only not displease them."
ref: 2024 October 2, Philip Haigh, “Different types of passengers require different types of fare”, in RAIL, number 1019, page 54:
synonyms: word: cheer
word: hearten
word: satisfy
word: beatify
word: begladden
word: blissen
word: bright
word: cheer
word: cheer up
word: content
word: delight
word: elate
word: enbliss
word: exhilarate
word: fain
word: gay
word: gladden
word: gladden someone's heart
word: gratify
word: happify
word: happy
word: hearten
word: jollify
word: laetificate
word: light up
word: make someone's day
word: perk up
word: please
word: raise someone's spirits
word: rejoice
word: turn the frown upside down
word: upcheer
word: warm someone's heart
word: warm the cockles of someone's heart
word: abound
word: amuse
word: appease
word: assuage
word: captivate
word: cater
word: cloy
word: compensate
word: conciliate
word: delight
word: elate
word: entertain
word: exuberate
word: fascinate
word: fill
word: flatter
word: fulfill
word: gratify
word: humor
word: humour
word: indulge
word: measure up
word: mollify
word: pacify
word: placate
word: please
word: propitiate
word: provide
word: quench
word: rejoice
word: sate
word: satiate
word: score
word: serve
word: slake
word: suffice
word: suit
word: supply
word: teem
antonyms: word: annoy
word: disgust
word: displease
word: irritate
word: comfort
word: please
word: soothe
glosses: To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.
examples: text: Just do as you please.
text: He doesn't think, he just says whatever he pleases.
text: Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth […]
ref: 1611, Bible, KJV edition, Psalm 135:6:
text: “Will any gentleman please to get outside and make room for a lady?”
ref: 1870 July 16, “Our Idler’s Gossip”, in Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Chronicle, volume XXVII, number 708, new series, [Sydney, N.S.W.], page [3], column 2:
synonyms: desire
will
glosses: To desire; to will; to be pleased by.
Derived terms: as you please
crowdpleasing
misplease
outplease
overplease
pleasable
pleaseman
pleaser
please-time
please yourself
pleasing
pleasy
superplease
you cannot please everyone
Related terms: pleasant
pleasurable
pleasure