contentment
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle French contentement. By surface analysis, content + -ment.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
contentment (usually uncountable, plural contentments)
- The state or degree of being contented or satisfied.
- 1620, Giovanni Bocaccio, translated by John Florio, The Decameron, Containing an Hundred Pleaſant Nouels: Wittily Diſcourſed, Betweene Seuen Honourable Ladies, and Three Noble Gentlemen[1], Isaac Iaggard, Nouell 8, The Eighth Day:
- […] purſued his vnneighbourly purpoſe in ſuch ſort: that hee being the ſtronger perſwader, and ſhe (belike) too credulous in beleeuing or elſe ouer-feeble in reſiſting, from priuate imparlance, they fell to action; and continued their cloſe fight a long while together, vnſeene and vvithout ſuſpition, no doubt to their equall ioy and contentment.
- 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:
- Then they got out their boat from the boat-house, sculled down the river home, and at a very late hour sat down to supper in their own cosy riverside parlour, to the Rat's great joy and contentment.
- happiness in one's situation; satisfaction
- The neurophysiological experience of satisfaction and being at ease in one's situation, body, and/or mind.
Antonyms edit
Translations edit
state or degree of being contented
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Further reading edit
- “contentment”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “contentment”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.