| / English Dictionary |
PLEASURE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Sexual gratification
Example:
he took his pleasure of her
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("pleasure" is a kind of...):
sex; sex activity; sexual activity; sexual practice (activities associated with sexual intercourse)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An activity that affords enjoyment
Example:
he puts duty before pleasure
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("pleasure" is a kind of...):
activity (any specific behavior)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pleasure"):
luxuriation (an activity that affords excessive pleasure and enjoyment)
Derivation:
please (give pleasure to or be pleasing to)
please (be the will of or have the will (to))
Sense 3
Meaning:
A formal expression
Example:
he serves at the pleasure of the President
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("pleasure" is a kind of...):
choice; pick; selection (the person or thing chosen or selected)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Something or someone that provides a source of happiness
Example:
the new car is a delight
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("pleasure" is a kind of...):
positive stimulus (a stimulus with desirable consequences)
Derivation:
please (give pleasure to or be pleasing to)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A fundamental feeling that is hard to define but that people desire to experience
Example:
he was tingling with pleasure
Synonyms:
pleasance; pleasure
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Hypernyms ("pleasure" is a kind of...):
feeling (the experiencing of affective and emotional states)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pleasure"):
delectation; delight (a feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction)
enjoyment (the pleasure felt when having a good time)
pleasantness (the feeling caused by agreeable stimuli; one pole of a continuum of states of feeling)
comfort (a feeling of freedom from worry or disappointment)
sexual pleasure (pleasure derived from sexual activities)
Antonym:
pain (emotional distress; a fundamental feeling that people try to avoid)
Derivation:
please (give pleasure to or be pleasing to)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Present simple (first person singular and plural, second person singular and plural, third person plural) of the verb pleasure
Context examples:
“Come, sir,” said I. “You forget that I have not yet the pleasure of your acquaintance. Be seated, if you please.”
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
He waved back to them, and then hastened on, the lighter of heart for having fallen in with these strange men of pleasure.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He would talk in a cheerful accent, with an expression of goodness that bestowed pleasure even upon me.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Boy Jim’s dark eyes sparkled with pleasure.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
This solution was a source of pleasure.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
If you travel with your sister or brother or go to see your sibling, you’ll enjoy a double dip of pleasure.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
It would be a great pleasure to me, therefore, if you could come on to the Continent with me.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It is a pleasure to see anyone appreciate them so.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
In addition, their work reveals that even trivial restrictions on food intake (that is, temporary diets) are associated with a reduction in pleasure.
(Obesity and food restrictions proven to be associated with less food enjoyment, University of Granada)
‘Anhedonia’ (the loss of pleasure) is one of the key symptoms of depression.
(Marmoset study gives insights into loss of pleasure in depression, University of Cambridge)
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