as in amenability
a desire or disposition to please
the complaisance of his girlfriend is such that she meekly goes along with everything he says
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Recent Examples of complaisance
Yet electing to be private doesn’t amount to complaisance or complicity.
—
Lesley M.m. Blume, Town & Country, 6 Dec. 2022
Sammy’s awareness of his mother’s infidelity, his father’s complaisance, and how both were relieved by his creative Boy Scout merit-badge projects and fantasies requires a separate article.
—Armond White, National Review, 16 Nov. 2022
What is lost is the look of complaisance that defines young founders looking for capital.
—Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 2 Mar. 2021
There are more emphatic reasons for the market’s complaisance.
—Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 12 Nov. 2016
Lesley M.m. Blume, Town & Country, 6 Dec. 2022
Sammy’s awareness of his mother’s infidelity, his father’s complaisance, and how both were relieved by his creative Boy Scout merit-badge projects and fantasies requires a separate article.
—Armond White, National Review, 16 Nov. 2022
What is lost is the look of complaisance that defines young founders looking for capital.
—Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 2 Mar. 2021
There are more emphatic reasons for the market’s complaisance.
—Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 12 Nov. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for complaisance
friendliness
Noun
-
Ring In 2017, a study in the journal Science Advances concluded this friendliness may have been a result of genetic changes over an extended period of time.—
Jack Beresford,
MSNBC Newsweek,
9 June 2025
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This isn’t the kind of spa where employees avoid your eyeline or won’t greet you in the hallways for fear of interrupting your inner peace, and this genuine friendliness comes as a welcome surprise in the often-intimidating heart of Hollywood.—
Emma Specter,
Vogue,
3 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Complaisance.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/complaisance. Accessed 19 Jun. 2025.
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