Meaning & use
complaisant
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Meaning
adjectivenot comparable
Too ready to agree with other people and do what they want, often failing to express your own wishes.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after linking verbs like seem; rarely compared with more or most.
Patterns
- a complaisant manner
- complaisant towards someone
- remain complaisant
The new assistant was so complaisant that she never dared disagree with anyone.
He adopted a complaisant tone to avoid upsetting his difficult client.
Common combinations
- a complaisant smile
- She answered every unreasonable demand with a complaisant smile.
- complaisant towards authority
- The report criticized officials who had been too complaisant towards authority.
- in a complaisant manner
- He nodded along in a complaisant manner, though he privately disagreed.
Synonyms and how they differ
- obliging
- Obliging is warmer and more positive, describing someone helpfully willing; complaisant often suggests weakness or excessive eagerness to please.
- accommodating
- Accommodating is usually approving, meaning willing to fit in with others' needs; complaisant carries a hint of going too far.
- compliant
- Compliant stresses following rules or orders, while complaisant stresses a personal desire to please.
Opposites
Word family
- complaisance noun
- The quality of being too ready to please others.
- complaisantly adverb
- In a way that shows readiness to please.
Commonly confused: complaisant or complacent?
complaisant vs complacent
Complaisant means eager to please others; complacent means smugly satisfied with yourself and unaware of risks. The spellings and meanings are quite different.
Practice
The word complaisant is closest in meaning to ______.
Choose one answer.
Complaisant describes someone who readily agrees to others' wishes. Complacent, a common confusion, means self-satisfied, so option two is the trap.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “complaisant”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.