pleasure

[plezh-er] /ˈplɛʒ ər/
noun
1.
the state or feeling of being pleased.
2.
enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one's liking; gratification; delight.
3.
worldly or frivolous enjoyment:
the pursuit of pleasure.
4.
recreation or amusement; diversion; enjoyment:
Are you traveling on business or for pleasure?
5.
sensual gratification.
6.
a cause or source of enjoyment or delight:
It was a pleasure to see you.
7.
pleasurable quality:
the pleasure of his company.
8.
one's will, desire, or choice:
to make known one's pleasure.
verb (used with object), pleasured, pleasuring.
9.
to give pleasure to; gratify; please.
verb (used without object), pleasured, pleasuring.
10.
to take pleasure; delight:
I pleasure in your company.
11.
to seek pleasure, as by taking a holiday.
Origin
1325-75; late Middle English (see please, -ure); replacing Middle English plaisir < Middle French (noun use of infinitive) < Latin placēre to please
Related forms
pleasureful, adjective
pleasureless, adjective
pleasurelessly, adverb
antipleasure, noun, adjective
Synonyms
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.
Examples from the web for pleasure
  • Come here at night, however, and the experience transforms into a sensuous delight-a real pleasure of shared community.
  • The satisfaction, the pleasure, the comfort one takes in these poems comes from the way they seem to have pre-existed us.
  • It is just a simple pleasure.
  • Having been her editor, I confess, was a pleasure.
  • Fried rice, a savory meal in a bowl, is a wonderful guilty pleasure of Chinese takeout.
  • It's always a pleasure to read your work, you deliver once again.
  • Something that gives great pleasure or enjoyment.
  • But I do not take any real pleasure in it, neither in preparing food nor in eating it.
  • Middle age has the pleasure of accomplishment.
  • Most of them don't read for pleasure at all.
British Dictionary definitions for pleasure

pleasure

/ˈplɛʒə/
noun
1.
an agreeable or enjoyable sensation or emotion: the pleasure of hearing good music
2.
something that gives or affords enjoyment or delight: his garden was his only pleasure
3.
  1. amusement, recreation, or enjoyment
  2. (as modifier): a pleasure boat, pleasure ground
4.
(euphemistic) sexual gratification or enjoyment: he took his pleasure of her
5.
a person's preference or choice
verb
6.
when intr, often foll by in. to give pleasure to or take pleasure (in)
Derived Forms
pleasureful, adjective
pleasureless, adjective
Word Origin
C14 plesir, from Old French; related to Old French plaisir to please
Word Origin and History for pleasure
n.

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.

v.

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