Hypertext Webster Gateway: "complaisance"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Complaisance \Com"plai*sance`\ (?; 277), n. [F. complaisance.
See {Complaisant}, and cf. {Complacence}.]
Disposition to please or oblige; obliging compliance with the
wishes of others; a deportment indicative of a desire to
please; courtesy; civility.
These [ladies] . . . are by the just complaisance and
gallantry of our nation the most powerful part of our
people. --Addison.
They strive with their own hearts and keep them down,
In complaisance to all the fools in town. --Young.
Syn: Civility; courtesy; urbanity; suavity; affability; good
breeding.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
complaisance
n : a disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others
[syn: {compliance}, {compliancy}, {obligingness}, {deference}]
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