pleased

1. 1
   adjective

   Feeling happy and satisfied, especially about something that has happened or been done.

   The manager was pleased with how smoothly the project had gone.

   I'm pleased to report that all the tickets sold out within hours.

   Similarhappy, glad, delighted, satisfied, gratified

   Oppositedispleased, unhappy, dissatisfied, disappointed

   Note

   An adjective that began life as a participle: Middle English plesed, simply please plus -ed. It has since become a full adjective, compared as more pleased and most pleased. Three constructions carry most of its work: pleased with an outcome, pleased by a surprise, and pleased followed by a to-infinitive, as in the courtesy of introductions, pleased to meet you.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of please.

   The chef's new menu pleased even the harshest food critics.

   Nothing she did ever pleased her demanding boss.

   Note

   Past tense and participle share one spelling here: she pleased the critics, the critics were pleased, the chef has pleased them. The passive is where it shades into the adjective of contentment, since a very pleased critic is described rather than acted upon. The older intransitive meaning, to will or choose, survives in did as she pleased, which means what she chose rather than what made her happy.

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