Word family noun pleasantry pleasure ≠ displeasure adjective pleasant ≠ unpleasant pleased ≠ displeased pleasing ≠ displeasing pleasurable verb please ≠ displease adverb pleasantly ≠ unpleasantly pleasingly pleasurably
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpleasantpleas‧ant /ˈplezənt/ ●●○ S3 W3 adjective 1 NICEenjoyable or attractive and making you feel happy SYN nice, → pleasure It had been a pleasant evening. the pleasant climate of Southern California The restaurant was large and pleasant. Kate! What a pleasant surprise!it is pleasant to do something It was pleasant to sit in a sidewalk cafe and watch people pass.2 FRIENDLYfriendly, polite, and easy to talk to Nick seemed very pleasant on the phone. a pleasant-looking womanpleasant to He’s always been very pleasant to me.► see thesaurus at nice —pleasantly adverb He smiled pleasantly.RegisterIn everyday English, people usually say something or someone is nice rather than pleasant:It was a really nice day.They were all very nice to me.Examples from the Corpus
pleasant• Mulching is a pleasant activity for October.• Most of the students we get here are extremely pleasant and keen to learn.• We spent a pleasant evening chatting in the bar.• It's been a very pleasant evening.• Use pleasant eye contact, walk around the room, stand next to the student who is most likely to be noisy.• I only met her once or twice but she seemed a very pleasant girl.• The Croteau Beach Bed and Breakfast is a very pleasant house on lovely landscaped grounds.• Since what had been pleasant lately?• a pleasant-looking man• He thought that might make the world a slightly more pleasant place to live in.• Elizabeth becomes attracted to a handsome, pleasant soldier, Wickham.• What a pleasant surprise!• Relax in the peaceful and pleasant surroundings of our hotel.• Marcia's always pleasant to everybody.• The bedrooms are light and airy, with pleasant views from their balconies.• My office was large and pleasant with a good view of the city.pleasant surprise• In fact, the comfortable ride was our most pleasant surprise.• Your bank balance might be given a pleasant surprise.• This is a pleasant surprise, on two counts.• It may turn out to be a pleasant surprise or a not-so-pretty sight.• It may come as a pleasant surprise that a few members of Congress are attempting to steer a drastically different course.• It was a pleasant surprise to find a paperback edition of the Henkes book included in the package.• To my pleasant surprise Venturous was chosen to represent our Department.• But the main and most pleasant surprise was the sense of camaraderie among climbers in the Alps.Origin pleasant (1300-1400) Old French plaisant, from plaisir; → PLEASE2 