DictionaryAI

please

SayPLEEZ/pliz//pliːz/

Verbpleases, pleasing, pleased

6 meanings of please

Practice

  1. 1
    polite requestadverb
    Used when asking for something, to make the request polite or courteous.

    Please send me the report by Friday afternoon.

    Would you please keep your voice down in the library?

    UsagePlease with a bare command can still sound firm; could you please or would you please is softer.

    Similarkindly

    Note

    A shrunken courtesy formula: if it please you, itself modeled on French s'il vous plaît, wore down through if you please to a single word, and in doing so pushed out the older pray. The original was a subjunctive clause, but speakers no longer hear it as one. It now floats freely in the sentence: at the front, after the subject in would you please sign, or tacked on at the end.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

  2. 2
    make happyverbtransitive or intransitive
    To make someone happy or satisfied; to give them pleasure.

    A good host always tries to please their guests.

    Small gestures of kindness pleased the elderly residents enormously.

    UsageCommon in hard to please, eager to please and sure to please.

    Similarsatisfy, delight, gratify, content, amuse

    Oppositedisplease, annoy, irritate, disgust

  3. 3
    accept offerinterjection
    Said in reply to an offer in order to accept it politely.

    "More coffee?" she asked. "Please," he replied, holding out his cup.

    When the host offered second helpings, the kids all shouted, "Yes, please!"

    UsageUsually Yes, please; Please do gives permission. Do not use please to answer thank you; say you're welcome.

    Similaryes

    Note

    Acceptance borrows the courtesy of the polite request. Thank you sits close to it in meaning, and the two are often heard together.

  4. 4
    chooseverbintransitive
    To want, wish, or choose; to act according to one's own desire.

    Guests may wander the gardens as they please.

    She does exactly as she pleases, regardless of what others think.

    UsageUsually after as, whatever or wherever: do as you please, sit wherever you please.

    Similardesire, will

    Note

    Older English let it take a to-infinitive, so Bell's Life in Sydney could ask in 1870, "Will any gentleman please to get outside and make room for a lady?" The King James Bible of 1611 has "Whatsoever the Lord pleased."

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

Less common meanings

  1. 5
    annoyanceinterjection
    Used to express annoyance, impatience, or disbelief at something.

    Oh, please. As if anyone actually believes that story.

    He says he wrote the whole speech himself. Please. Nobody in the room believed that.

    UsageUsually Oh, please!, said to brush something aside as silly or untrue.

  2. 6
    interjectiondialectalCincinnati
    Said to ask someone to repeat something that was not heard or understood.

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English plesen, borrowed from Old French plaire ("to please"), from Latin placeō ("to please, to seem good"), from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "pleasingness, permission." In this sense it replaced the native Old English līcian, which became Modern English like.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

  • English please descends from Middle English plesen. en.wiktionary.org
  • Middle English borrowed the Old French verb plaire, meaning to please. d-nb.info
  • The French verb derives from Latin placeō. en.wiktionary.org
  • Latin placeō means to please or seem good. en.wiktionary.org
  • The proposed Proto-Indo-European root has the meaning pleasingness or permission. en.wiktionary.org
  • Please displaced Old English līcian in this meaning; līcian developed into Modern English like. en.wiktionary.org