pleasant

pleasant, pleasing, agreeable, grateful, gratifying, welcomeare comparable when they mean highly acceptable to or delighting the mind or the senses. Pleasant and pleasing are often indistinguishable; however, pleasant usually imputes a quality to the object to which it is applied, and pleasing suggests merely the effect of the object upon one

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a pleasant garden

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she liked everything to be tidy and pleasant and comfortable about her— Gibbons

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a pleasing arrangement of colors

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the thought of gazing on life's Evening Star makes of ugly old age a pleasing prospect— L. P. Smith

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Agreeable implies harmony with one's tastes or likings

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an agreeable taste

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if I was obliged to define politeness, I should call it the art of making oneself agreeable— Smollett

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replied with an agreeable, cultured throaty intonation— F. M. Ford

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Grateful carries the implications of both pleasing and agreeable; in addition it stresses the satisfaction or relief afforded the senses or, somewhat less often, the mind

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they ... lay down on the clean grass under the grateful shade of the tall cottonwoods— Cather

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only occasional voices from the road outside came to disturb the grateful sense of quiet and seclusion— Archibald Marshall

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Gratifying is applied chiefly to what affords mental pleasure to the individual by satisfying his desires, hopes, conscience, or vanity

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the reviews of his book were very gratifying

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the gratifying feeling that our duty has been done— Gilbert

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can satisfy their lust for power in a most gratifying way—Huxley

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Welcome even more than pleasing stresses the pleasure or satisfaction given by the thing to which it is applied; it often suggests prior need or an answer to one's longings

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the explorers found fresh fruit and vegetables a welcome addition to their diet

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the news was most welcome

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revivals offered welcome interludes in pioneer life— Amer. Guide Series: Minn.

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Analogous words: charming, attractive, alluring (see under ATTRACT vb): *soft, gentle, mild, balmy, smooth

Antonyms: unpleasant: distasteful: harsh