different between jocular vs pleasant

English

Etymology

From Latin iocularis, from ioculus (“a little jest”), diminutive of iocus (“a jest”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d??kj?l?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?d??kj?l?/

Adjective

jocular (comparative more jocular, superlative most jocular)

1. Humorous, amusing or joking.

   He was in a jocular mood all day.

   All we had was a short and jocular conversation.

   • 1865, Horatio Alger, Paul Prescott's Charge, chapter IV:

     From the tone of the speaker, the last words might be understood to be jocular.

   • 1896, H. G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau, chapter 15:

     Sometimes he would notice it, pat it, call it half-mocking, half-jocular names, and so make it caper with extraordinary delight.

   • 1910, Stephen Leacock, The Awful Fate of Melpomenus Jones:

     Then papa began to get very tired of Jones, and fidgeted and finally said, with jocular irony, that Jones had better stay all night, they could give him a shake-down.

Synonyms

• (humorous): jokey, silly, joculous; see also Thesaurus:witty

Antonyms

• (humorous): heartfelt, serious, sincere

Derived terms

Related terms

• joke

Translations

Further reading

• jocular in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• jocular in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• jocular at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

Partly from Old French plaisant, partly from Middle English [Term?], present participle of English please. Related to Dutch plezant (“full of fun or pleasure”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pl?z?nt/
• Rhymes: -?z?nt

Adjective

pleasant (comparative pleasanter or more pleasant, superlative pleasantest or most pleasant)

1. Giving pleasure; pleasing in manner.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalm 133.1,^[1]

     Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

   • 1871, Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, Chapter ,^[2]

     “O Oysters, come and walk with us!”

     The Walrus did beseech.

     “A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,

     Along the briny beach:

   • 1989, Hilary Mantel, Fludd, New York: Henry Holt, 2000, Chapter 2, p. 25,^[3]

     “ […] If you pray to St. Anne before twelve o’clock on a Wednesday, you’ll get a pleasant surprise before the end of the week.”

2. (obsolete) Facetious, joking.
   • c. 1598, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act I, Scene 2,^[4]

     […] tell the pleasant prince this mock of his

     Hath turn’d his balls to gun-stones […]

   • 1600, Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker’s Holiday, London, Dedication,^[5]

     […] I present you here with a merrie conceited Comedie, called the Shoomakers Holyday, acted by my Lorde Admiralls Players this present Christmasse, before the Queenes most excellent Maiestie. For the mirth and pleasant matter, by her Highnesse graciously accepted; being indeede no way offensiue.

Synonyms

• agreeable
• nice

Antonyms

• disagreeable
• nasty
• unpleasant

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

pleasant (plural pleasants)

1. (obsolete) A wit; a humorist; a buffoon.
   • 1603, Philemon Holland (translator), The Philosophie, commonlie called the Morals written by the learned philosopher Plutarch of Chæronea, London, p. 1144,^[6]

     […] Galba was no better than one of the buffons or pleasants that professe to make folke merry and to laugh.

   • 1696, uncredited translator, The General History of the Quakers by Gerard Croese, London: John Dunton, Book 2, p. 96,^[7]

     Yea, in the Courts of Kings and Princes, their Fools, and Pleasants, which they kept to relax them from grief and pensiveness, could not show themselves more dexterously ridiculous, than by representing the Quakers, or aping the motions of their mouth, voice, gesture, and countenance:

Anagrams

• planates, platanes