displease
/dɪsˈpliːz
/verb [with object]
Make (someone) feel annoyed or upset: the tone of the letter displeased him (as adjective displeasing) it was not entirely displeasing to be the centre of such a drama...
- Everything I did seemed to annoy and displease him.
- There are some indications, as well, that Bruce is anxious to avoid displeasing her conservative audience.
- Under this view, slavery is wrong, but not because slavery is an ‘unnatural’ human social position or because slavery displeases God.
Synonyms
annoy, irritate, infuriate, incense, anger, irk, vex, provoke, pique, peeve, gall, nettle, exasperate, madden;
dissatisfy, disgruntle, dismay, put out, affront, offend, insult, mortify, outrage, scandalize, disgust;
bother, trouble, upset, perturb, disturb, discompose
informal aggravate, needle, bug, rile, rattle, miff, hack off
British informal nark, wind up, get at
North American informal tee off, tick off, gravel, bum out
vulgar slang piss off
Derivatives
displeasingly
- ‘Nobody is going in the river,’ Bane looked at both of them displeasingly, ‘I am Bane, mercenary, the young man here is Silas Avon, archer, and you are?’
- Somehow, because they never lost sight of core aesthetic principles that began with their dark self-titled debut in 1984, their borrowing never seemed displeasingly imperialistic or slanted toward cultural tourism.
- Jasmine kicked a discarded camera cartridge along the sidewalk as she trudged down a street of displeasingly samey motels. ‘Bloody tourists.’
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French desplaisir, from des- (expressing reversal) + plaisir 'to please', from Latin placere.