Complaisant

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /kəmˈpleɪsənt/

Definitions

1. Willing to please others or comply with their wishes, often to an excessive or unquestioning degree
2. Eager to accommodate and agree with others' desires, sometimes at the expense of one's own preferences or principles
3. Disposed to be agreeable and obliging in manner, especially in order to win favor or avoid conflict

Etymology: The adjective "complaisant" looks like a plain English word, but it arrived as a French one with a sense that has shifted noticeably. Its root is the Latin "complacēre," meaning "please well," built from "com-" ("with" or, here, intensifying) and "placēre" ("to please"). That same Latin root gave English "placid," "placate," and "complacent," so the family is closer than it first appears. In French, "complaisant" meant simply "willing to please" or "obliging," and it carried nothing negative. English borrowed the word with that courteous, friendly meaning. Over time, the emphasis moved from generous accommodation toward excessive accommodation, so that a person being obliging could slide into being too willing to go along with others. The modern sense therefore describes someone who bends too easily, giving way to others' wishes even when it costs them their own preferences or principles. The shift is subtle: the same quality that once earned praise now more often suggests a lack of backbone.

Synonyms: obliging, accommodating, agreeable, cooperative, helpful

Antonyms: disobliging, uncooperative, inflexible, difficult, stubborn