complaisant

adjective

com·​plai·​sant kəm-ˈplā-sᵊnt 

-zᵊnt;

ˌkäm-plā-ˈzant,

-plə-,

-ˈzänt

1

: marked by an inclination to please or oblige

2

: tending to consent to others' wishes

complaisantly adverb

Did you know?

Complaisant or Complacent?

Complaisant and complacent are often confused, and for good reason. Not only do the words look and sound alike, but they also both come from Latin verb complacēre, meaning “to please greatly.” (The placēre in complacēre is an ancestor of the English word please). Complacent is used disapprovingly to describe someone who is self-satisfied or unconcerned with whatever is going on, but it also shares with complaisant the sense of “inclined to please or oblige.” This sense of complacent is an old one, but that hasn’t kept language critics from labeling its use as an error—and on the whole, modern writers do prefer complaisant for this meaning. Whether you complaisantly oblige, well, that’s up to you.

Choose the Right Synonym for complaisant

amiable, good-natured, obliging, complaisant mean having the desire or disposition to please.

amiable implies having qualities that make one liked and easy to deal with.

an amiable teacher not easily annoyed

good-natured implies cheerfulness or helpfulness and sometimes a willingness to be imposed upon.

a good-natured girl who was always willing to pitch in

obliging stresses a friendly readiness to be helpful.

our obliging innkeeper found us a bigger room

complaisant often implies passivity or a yielding to others because of weakness.

was too complaisant to protest a decision he thought unfair

Examples of complaisant in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

However, Imperial County landowners and complaisant U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials ignored that limit, allowing rapid consolidation of land, says Andrés, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the county’s early years. —Janet Wilson, ProPublica, 9 Nov. 2023

Last month Ferrari lofted its banners over a resort near the southern port of Cagliari and invited journalists to test-drive the new Ferrari Roma Spider, taking advantage of the excellent tarmac, ideal weather and complaisant authorities. —Dan Neil, WSJ, 5 Oct. 2023

Overall, the song feels like a deep analysis and reflection on the complaisant position men may take in love and relationships, giving us a track that reams out awful boyfriends and the mindless behavior of their partners who continue to allow them back into their lives to act this way. —Abby Dupes, Seventeen, 21 May 2022

But Ohio shouldn’t get complaisant. —Julie Washington, cleveland, 8 Apr. 2021

In each case, the man has an energetic wife who has continued making public appearances while her husband retreats behind a veil of discretion at which a complaisant press seems reluctant to tug. —Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 3 Mar. 2023

Private institutional investors such as BlackRock and Vanguard tend to be more complaisant about CEO pay — except for European funds. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2023

His admirers included such luminaries as U.S. Sen. Robert Wagner, all of whom turned a complaisant eye to the married Crater’s other life as a randy stage-door johnny with a mistress and a harem of chorus girls and Polly Adler hookers. —Edward Kosner, WSJ, 20 June 2022

Administrations since have learned not to be so complaisant. —WSJ, 20 May 2022

Word History

Etymology

French, from Middle French, from present participle of complaire to gratify, acquiesce, from Latin complacēre

First Known Use

1638, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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