different between complaisant vs clement

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).

English

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin cl?m?ns.

Adjective

clement (comparative more clement, superlative most clement)

1. Lenient or merciful; charitable.
   • a 1891, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, published 1924, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 18, [1]

     Your clement sentence they would account pusillanimous.

2. Mild (said of weather and similar circumstances).
   • 1984, Edna O'Brien, "The Bachelor" in A Fanatic Heart, New York: Plume, p. 66,

     The weather is clement, though there was a downpour yesterday and I was obliged to take precautions.

   • 1992, A. B. Yehoshua, Mr. Mani, translated by Hillel Halkin, New York: Doubleday, pp. 314-5,

     The earth was still dry and the air was perfectly clement.

Antonyms

• inclement

Related terms

• clemency

Translations

References

Romanian

Etymology

From French clément, from Latin clemens.

Adjective

clement m or n (feminine singular clement?, masculine plural clemen?i, feminine and neuter plural clemente)

1. clement

Declension