Delectation

//ˌdiːlɛkˈteɪʃən// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Great pleasure; delight. countable, uncountable

    "Do not let us men despise these instincts because we cannot feel them. These women were made for our comfort and delectation, gentlemen,—with all the rest of the minor animals."

  2. 2
    act of receiving pleasure from something wordnet
  3. 3
    a feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
beatificationbeatitudebed of rosesbeer and skittlesblissbowl of cherries

Example

More examples

"Do not let us men despise these instincts because we cannot feel them. These women were made for our comfort and delectation, gentlemen,—with all the rest of the minor animals."

Etymology

Attested from the mid 14th century, from Old French delectation (“enjoyment”), from Latin dēlectātiōnem, accusative singular of dēlectātiō, from the verb Latin dēlectō (“I delight, charm, please”), frequentative of dēliciō, from de- (“away”) + laciō (“I lure, I deceive”), from Proto-Italic *lakjō (“to draw, pull”), of unknown ultimate origin. By surface analysis, delect + -ation or delectate + -ion. Related to delight and delicious.

Related phrases

morose delectation

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.