pleasure
a fundamental feeling that is hard to define but that people desire to experience
How often you will meet it
Rank 530 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 36,850 times across 155,139 chapters — 0.018% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 1,000 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
noun
- a fundamental feeling that is hard to define but that people desire to experience also: pleasance he was tingling with pleasure
- something or someone that provides a source of happiness also: joy, delight a joy to beholdthe pleasure of his company
- a formal expression he serves at the pleasure of the President
- an activity that affords enjoyment he puts duty before pleasure
- sexual gratification he took his pleasure of her
pleasure in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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The great engineer smiled with clean pleasure.
The Courage of the Commonplace · Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews · Chapter 1
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If I did, I would lose all my pleasure.
The Picture of Dorian Gray · Oscar Wilde · Chapter 1
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Perhaps the secret of this was that his "pleasure" was never merely his own.
Christian's Mistake · Dinah Maria Mulock Craik · Chapter 1
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Let the caroch go on--and 'tis his pleasure You put out all your torches and depart.
The White Devil · John Webster · Chapter 1
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He has probably hunted several times without pleasure, or fished or shot here and there without success.
Punch — Volume 99, August 16, 1890 · Various · Chapter 1