complaisant

complaisant
adjective
com·;plai·;sant k;m-;pl;-s;nt  -z;nt; ;k;m-pl;-;zant, -pl;-, -;z;nt
Synonyms of complaisant
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 complac;re, meaning “to please greatly.” (The plac;re in complac;re 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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
However, Imperial County landowners and complaisant U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials ignored that limit, allowing rapid consolidation of land, says Andr;s, 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.