different between pleasing vs blissful

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?pli?z??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?pliz??/
• Rhymes: -i?z??

Etymology 1

From Middle English plesynge, pleizinge, plesende (present participle), equivalent to please +? -ing.

Adjective

pleasing (comparative more pleasing, superlative most pleasing)

1. Agreeable; giving pleasure, cheer, enjoyment or gratification.

Synonyms

• enjoyable
• gratifying
• satisfying

Derived terms

• pleasing fungus beetle

Related terms

Translations

Verb

pleasing

1. present participle of please.

Etymology 2

From Middle English plesing, plesinge (“satisfaction; pleasing”), equivalent to please +? -ing.

Noun

pleasing (countable and uncountable, plural pleasings)

1. pleasure or satisfaction, as in the phrase "to my pleasing."
   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Passion of our Blessed Saviour (sermon)

     What more palpable confutation can there be of human vanity and arrogance, of all lofty imaginations, all presumptuous confidences, all turgid humours, all fond self-pleasings and self-admirings, than is that tragical cross […]

Anagrams

• apelings, elapsing, leapings, pealings

English

Alternative forms

• blissfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English blisful, bislvol, equivalent to bliss +? -ful.

Adjective

blissful (comparative more blissful, superlative most blissful)

1. Extremely happy; full of joy; experiencing, indicating, causing, or characterized by bliss.
   • 1738, Samuel Johnson, "London: A Poem in Imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal", lines 25-26,

     In pleasing dreams the blissful age renew,

     And call Britannia's glories back to view;

   • 1983, James Hijiya, "American Gravestones and Attitudes toward Death: A Brief History," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 127, no. 5., page 349,

     New England carvers between the 1720s and the 1750s transformed, step by step, the winged skull into the winged face, adding flesh to bare bone and turning the toothy grin of death into the blissful smile of a saved soul.

2. (obsolete) Blessed; glorified.
   • c1387, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Prioress' Tale," in The Canterbury Tales,

     Thus had this widow her little son y-taught

     Our blissful Lady, Christe's mother dear,

     To worship aye

Usage notes

"Blissful" occasionally has the extra connotation that a person is extremely happy because he or she fails to recognize or accept certain adversities or other harsh realities.

Synonyms

• ecstatic
• elated
• euphoric
• joyful
• orgasmic
• overjoyed
• rapturous
• on cloud nine
• See also Thesaurus:blissful

Derived terms

• blissfully
• blissfulness

Translations

References

• blissful in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “blissful”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)

Anagrams

• fullsibs