What does "pleasant" mean?
Pleasant: 2. Cheerful; enlivening; gay; sprightly; humorous; sportive; as, pleasant company; a pleasant fellow. From grave to light, from pleasant to serve. Dryden. -- Pleasant, Pleasing, Agreeable. Agreeable is applied to that which agrees with, or is in harmony with, one's tastes, character, etc. Pleasant and pleasing denote a stronger degree of the agreeable. Pleasant refers rather to the state or condition; pleasing, to the act or effect. Where they are applied to the same object, pleasing is more energetic than pleasant; as, she is always pleasant and always pleasing. The distinction, however, is not radical and not rightly observed.
Additional senses
- 2.A wit; a humorist; a buffoon. [Obs.]
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
- Canonical URL: https://worddirectanswers.com/answers/what-does-pleasant-mean
- Steward: Jason Burns
- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00