Library / English Dictionary

DISPLEASE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give displeasure to

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Cause:

dislike (have or feel a dislike or distaste for)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "displease"):

annoy; bother; chafe; devil; get at; get to; gravel; irritate; nark; nettle; rag; rile; vex (cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations)

repel; repulse (be repellent to; cause aversion in)

dissatisfy (fail to satisfy)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The bad news will displease him

The performance is likely to displease Sue

Antonym:

please (give pleasure to or be pleasing to)

Derivation:

displeasure (the feeling of being displeased or annoyed or dissatisfied with someone or something)

Credits

 Context examples: 

There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something down-right detestable.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The feeling of being displeased and discontent.

(Dissatisfaction, NCI Thesaurus)

The skipper was not displeased with the compliment, and went on:—When we got past the Bosphorus the men began to grumble; some o' them, the Roumanians, came and asked me to heave overboard a big box which had been put on board by a queer lookin' old man just before we had started frae London.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

She grew more agitated and displeased.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

"Go on, please," said Laurie, as Jo became absorbed in her work, looking a trifle displeased.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I was going to say, impassioned: but perhaps you would have misunderstood the word, and been displeased.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Janet looked a little surprised to see me lying stiffly on the sofa (I was afraid to move lest it should be displeasing to my aunt), but went on her errand.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He was so much displeased, that it was longer than usual before he came to Hartfield again; and when they did meet, his grave looks shewed that she was not forgiven.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But if I go on, I shall displease you by saying what I think of persons you esteem.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Neither did I find the emperor at all displeased; and I discovered, by a certain accident, that he was very glad of my resolution, and so were most of his ministers.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)