Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Giving or affording pleasure or enjoyment; agreeable.
  • adjective Pleasing in manner, behavior, or appearance.
  • adjective Fair and comfortable.
  • adjective Merry; lively.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pleasing; delightful; agreeable; grateful to the mind or to the senses.
  • Merry; lively; cheerful; gay.
  • Jocular; witty; facetious.
  • Synonyms Pleasant, Pleasing, Agreeable, Congenial, gratifying, acceptable, welcome. Pleasing is the strongest, and agreeable the weakest of the first four words. Pleasant may be, and generally is, applied to things in the concrete: as, pleasant weather. Pleasing applies generally to things not physical: as, a pleasant face; a pleasing aspect, variety. Pleasant suggests the effect produced, pleasing the power of producing it; hence we may say a pleasant or a pleasing variety. Pleasing must be objective, pleasant may be subjective : as, he was in a pleasant mood. Agreeable and congenial are used of social qualities and relations, but the latter goes deeper, expressing a natural suitableness, on the part of a person or thing, to the tastes, habits, temperament, or passing mood of the person concerned.
  • noun A humorist; a droll; a jester; a buffoon.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Pleasing; grateful to the mind or to the senses; agreeable
  • adjective Cheerful; enlivening; gay; sprightly; humorous; sportive
  • noun obsolete A wit; a humorist; a buffoon.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Giving pleasure; pleasing in manner.
  • noun obsolete A wit; a humorist; a buffoon.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective affording pleasure; being in harmony with your taste or likings
  • adjective (of persons) having pleasing manners or behavior

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English plesaunt, from Old French plaisant, present participle of plaisir, to please, from Latin placēre; see plāk- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French plaisant.

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Examples

  • She ran lightly up-stairs, and springing into her nurse's arms, exclaimed, "O mammy, mammy! what a pleasant, _pleasant_ day I have had!

    Elsie Dinsmore Martha Finley 1868

  • To make thy riches pleasant] [W: nor bounty] I am inclined to believe, that neither man nor woman will have much difficulty to tell how _beauty makes riches pleasant_.

    Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Samuel Johnson 1746

  • His eyes were a very, very light gray, his expression pleasant; despite his elegant, expensive-looking clothes, it was easy to imagine him on the deck of a ship, peering keenly into the distance.

    Clockwork Angel Cassandra Clare 2010

  • The sheriff said something to the deputy, his expression pleasant, unhurried.

    Rain Gods James Lee Burke 2009

  • The sheriff said something to the deputy, his expression pleasant, unhurried.

    Rain Gods James Lee Burke 2009

  • The sheriff said something to the deputy, his expression pleasant, unhurried.

    Rain Gods James Lee Burke 2009

  • Around Pleasant Springs, Wisconsin not exactly what you call a pleasant sight.

    CNN Transcript Aug 19, 2005 2005

  • He stared right back, trying to keep his expression pleasant.

    LADY of SKYE PATRICIA CABOT 2001

  • It concerns us therefore to consider in time that he that tempts us will accuse us, and what he calls pleasant now he shall then say was nothing, and all the gains that now invite earthly souls and mean persons to vanity, was nothing but the seeds of folly, and the harvest in pain and sorrow and shame eternal.

    The World's Great Sermons, Volume 02 Hooker to South Grenville Kleiser 1910

  • "Right there, facing us at the other side, is what I call a pleasant magazine -- it has lots of pictures, for see, it's pressed up to the window wide open, and it's called _The Joy-bell_ -- I'm a great deal more taken with that sound than with the sound of _The Downfall_."

    The Palace Beautiful A Story for Girls L. T. Meade 1884

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