different between comfortable vs complaisant

English

Alternative forms

• comfterble / comftorble (eye dialect)

Etymology

From Middle English comfortable, from Old French confortable, from conforter. See also comfort.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Canada)
  • enPR: k?mf't?bl, k?mf't?rbl, k?m'f?rt?bl, k?m'f?t?bl
  • IPA^(key): /?k?mf.t?.b?l/, /?k?mf.t??.b?l/, /?k?m.f??.t?.b?l/, /?k?m.f?.t?.b?l/
• (Received Pronunciation)
  • enPR: k?mf't?bl IPA^(key): /?k?mf.t?.b?l/, [?k???f.t???.b??]
  • enPR: k?m'f?t?bl IPA^(key): /?k?m.f?.t?.b?l/
• (General New Zealand)
  • enPR: k?mf't?bl
  • IPA^(key): /?k?mf.t?.b?l/, [?k???f.t?.bl?], [?k???.f??.b?]

Adjective

comfortable (comparative comfortabler or more comfortable, superlative comfortablest or most comfortable)

1. Providing physical comfort and ease; agreeable. [from 18^thc.]
2. In a state of comfort and content. [from 18^thc.]

   • A great bargain also had been […] the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.

3. (obsolete) Comforting, providing comfort; consolatory. [14^th-19^thc.]
   • 1699, John Dryden, Tales from Chaucer

     a comfortable provision made for their subsistence

4. Amply sufficient, satisfactory. [from 17^thc.]
5. (obsolete) Strong; vigorous; valiant.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wyclif to this entry?)
6. (obsolete) Serviceable; helpful.

Usage notes

Although the word comfortable looks (etymonically) like one of its senses could be synonymous with consolable, it does not have that sense; the absence of that sense is simply a lexical gap. In parallel, the same is true of comfortability and consolability, as well as uncomfortable and inconsolable.

Synonyms

• (providing/enjoying comfort): comforting, comfy, cozy, eathful, restful, snug, cushy
• (safely reliable): safe

Antonyms

• comfortless, uncomfortable

Derived terms

Related terms

• comforter
• discomfort

Translations

Noun

comfortable (plural comfortables)

1. (US) A stuffed or quilted coverlet for a bed; a comforter.

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French confortable, from conforter.

Adjective

comfortable

1. comfortable

Descendants

• English: comfortable

English

Etymology

From French complaisant (“willing to please”), from complaire, from Latin complac?re, present active infinitive of complace? (“please well”), from com- (“with”) + place? (“please”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k?m?ple?s?nt/
• Homophone: complacent
• (US) IPA^(key): /k?m?ple?s?nt/, /k?m?ple?z?nt/

Adjective

complaisant (comparative more complaisant, superlative most complaisant)

1. Compliant.
2. Willing to do what pleases others; obliging.
3. (archaic) Polite; showing respect.

Usage notes

• Complaisant should not be confused with its homophone, complacent.

Derived terms

• complaisantly

Related terms

• complaisance

Translations

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.pl?.z??/

Verb

complaisant

1. present participle of complaire

Adjective

complaisant (feminine singular complaisante, masculine plural complaisants, feminine plural complaisantes)

1. complaisant, obliging, eager to please

Derived terms

• mari complaisant

Further reading

• “complaisant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).