complaisance · noun — the quality of being complaisant, amiable or agreeable. It carries an Arena rating of 1661, earned across 45 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, complaisance ranks #3,347 of 17,163 for Most Beautiful Words, #4,124 of 17,188 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #5,005 of 17,151 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #5,259 of 17,187 for Most Malleable Words.
Why “complaisance” is a great word
COMPLAISANCE — [Noun] A gracious and cheerful willingness to please others by accommodating their wishes. From French complaisance, from complaisant ("pleasing, obliging"), from complaire ("to please"), from Latin complacēre ("to be very pleasing"), from com- (intensive) + placēre ("to please"). First attested in English in the mid-17th century. Unlike "obsequiousness" (which implies a servile, self-interested eagerness) or "indifference" (which denotes a cold lack of concern), complaisance is a dignified, amiable grace. It is the host who refills a glass before it is empty, the gentle ceding of an argument to preserve the peace, the unforced smile that greets an unexpected request—a civilizing lubricant for social machinery, offered not from weakness but from a strength of benign regard, smoothing the world's friction with quiet artistry.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From French. See complaisant. By surface analysis, com- + plaisance.
noun
- The quality of being complaisant, amiable or agreeable.e.g.“I see he has premeditated a Denial by the Complaisance of his Features.” — 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, V.i:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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