different between please vs divert

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pli?z/, [pl??iz]
• (General American) enPR: pl?z, IPA^(key): /pliz/, [p??iz]
• Rhymes: -i?z
• Homophone: pleas

Etymology 1

From Middle English plesen, plaisen, borrowed from Old French plaise, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin plac?re (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European *pl?-k- (“wide and flat”). Displaced native English queme (“to please, satisfy”), from Middle English quemen, queamen (“to please”) (from Old English cw?man (“to please”)), Middle English biluvien (“to please, delight”) (from Middle English bi-, be- + luvien (“to love”)), Middle English liken (“to like, please”) (from Old English l?cian (“to please, be like”)), Middle English lusten, listen (“to be pleasing, delight”) (from Old English lystan (“to please”)).

Alternative forms

• pleace (used from the Middle English period up to the 15th century, and in Scots until the 17th century)

Verb

please (third-person singular simple present pleases, present participle pleasing, simple past and past participle pleased)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.
2. (intransitive, ergative) To desire; to will; to be pleased by.

Synonyms

• (to make happy): satisfy
• (to desire): desire, will

Antonyms

• (to make happy): annoy, irritate, disgust, displease

Derived terms

• pleaser
• pleasing
• pleasy

Related terms

• pleasant
• pleasurable
• pleasure

Translations

Etymology 2

Short for if you please, an intransitive, ergative form taken from if it pleases you which is a calque of French s'il vous plaît, which replaced pray.

Alternative forms

• (for the exaggerated way it is often pronounced as the expression of annoyance) puh-lease

Adverb

please (not comparable)

1. Used to make a polite request.

2. Used as an affirmative to an offer.

3. An expression of annoyance or impatience.

Derived terms

• please explain
• pretty please

Descendants

• ? Bengali: ????? (plij), ????? (plij)
• ? Hindi: ?????? (pl?z) (urban, colloquial)
• ? Urdu: ????? (pl?z) (urban, colloquial)

Translations

Etymology 3

Semantic loan from German bitte (“please; excuse me”).

Adverb

please (not comparable)

1. (Cincinnati) Said as a request to repeat information.

Synonyms

• (request to repeat): what, excuse me, pardon me, come again; see also Thesaurus:say again

References

Anagrams

• Sapele, asleep, elapse, sapele

English

Etymology

From Middle English diverten, Old French divertir (“to turn or go different ways, part, separate, divert”), from Latin di- (“apart”) + vertere (“to turn”); see verse.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /da??v??t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /da??v?t/, /d??v?t/
• Rhymes: -??(r)t

Verb

divert (third-person singular simple present diverts, present participle diverting, simple past and past participle diverted)

1. (transitive) To turn aside from a course.
2. (transitive) To distract.
3. (transitive) To entertain or amuse (by diverting the attention)
   • 1871, Charles John Smith, Synonyms Discriminated

     We are amused by a tale, diverted by a comedy.

4. (obsolete, intransitive) To turn aside; to digress.

   • I diverted to see one of the prince's palaces.

Synonyms

• (to lead away from a course): offlead

Related terms

• diversion
• diversity
• diverse

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• verdit