complaisant
/kəmˈpleɪz(ə)nt
/adjective
Willing to please others or to accept what they do or say without protest: he went to join his apparently complaisant wife for Christmas...
- Strangely though, this doesn't come over as frosty or nihilistic, but harmless and complaisant.
- These ideas were encouraged by complaisant Western ‘development economists’ and by a dubious semantic innovation.
- But nothing seems to shift a complaisant populace.
Synonyms
willing, assenting, acquiescent, agreeable, amenable, cooperative, accommodating, obliging, biddable, compliant, pliant, deferential, docile, obedient, conformable, tractable
Usage
Complaisant does not mean the same as complacent. See complacent (usage).
Derivatives
complaisance
/ noun ...- If it became possible for shareholders to sue firms where those firms might reasonably have protected them from insider trading, corporate Australia's complaisance towards insider trading could take a healthy hit.
- And this has caused a mass unjustified complaisance.
- A rebellion of public opinion against such complaisance is possible but not certain.
Origin
Mid 17th century: French, from complaire 'acquiesce in order to please', from Latin complacere 'to please'.