Pleasantry
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A casual, courteous remark. countable, proscribed, sometimes, uncountable
- 2 an agreeable or amusing remark wordnet
- 3 A playful remark; a jest. countable, uncountable
"Charlie Mulgrew could easily have been shown two yellow cards by a stricter referee and amid all the usual Anglo-Scottish pleasantries, the two sets of fans put an awful lot of effort into trying to drown out one another’s national anthems."
- 4 Anything that promotes pleasure or merriment. countable, dated, uncountable
"C.O.O: "The office was quite close to the home of our youth—" CHRM: "Thomas, your trip to Suitopia was not meant to be for pleasantries." C.O.O: "No… I know… But I was close by, so I went to visit them…" CHRM: "You should not have. You and I both know the way they are.""
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"It was then the custom, to prevent any coarse pleasantry which old times perhaps admitted, that the key of the nuptial chamber should be entrusted to the bridesman."
Etymology
From pleasant + -ry, probably modelled on Middle French plaisanterie.
Related phrases
More for "pleasantry"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.