complaisance

English

Alternative forms

• complaisaunce (obsolete, rare)

Etymology

From French. See complaisant.

Noun

complaisance (countable and uncountable, plural complaisances)

1. The quality of being complaisant, amiable or agreeable.
   • 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, V.i:

     I see he has premeditated a Denial by the Complaisance of his Features.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:

     It is no wonder that in an age when this kind of merit is so little in fashion, and so slenderly provided for, persons possessed of it should very eagerly flock to a place where they were sure of being received with great complaisance; indeed, where they might enjoy almost the same advantages of a liberal fortune as if they were entitled to it in their own right.

Translations

quality of being complaisant

• Esperanto: komplezo (eo)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὕφεσις (húphesis)

• Portuguese: complacência (pt) f

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.plɛ.zɑ̃s/, /kɔ̃.ple.zɑ̃s/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

Noun

complaisance f (plural complaisances)

1. kindness
2. complacency
3. indulgence

Further reading

• “complaisance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.