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View synonyms for pleasantry

pleasantry

[ plez-uhn-tree ]

noun

, plural pleas·ant·ries.
  1. good-humored teasing; banter.
  2. a humorous or jesting remark.
  3. a courteous social remark used to initiate or facilitate a conversation:

    to exchange pleasantries.

  4. a humorous action.


pleasantry

/ ˈplɛzəntrɪ /

noun

  1. often plural an agreeable or amusing remark, often one made in order to be polite

    they exchanged pleasantries

  2. an agreeably humorous manner or style
  3. rare.
    enjoyment; pleasantness

    a pleasantry of life

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of pleasantry1

1645–55; < French plaisanterie, Old French plesanterie. See pleasant, -ry
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Word History and Origins

Origin of pleasantry1

C17: from French plaisanterie, from plaisant pleasant
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Example Sentences

It wasn’t one of these pleasantry kinds of meetings whatsoever.

To start, he exchanged pleasantries with the boy before attempting to debunk his testimony.

The men exchanged pleasantries, Buzbee recalled, and then Buzbee made an offer.

I joined him and, after some pleasantries, raised the subject.

Vargas, suspecting the conversation would turn into a recruitment pitch, stopped responding after exchanging pleasantries.

From Time

But this pleasantry, excellent as pleasantry, hardly deserves serious refutation.

It is a continental form of pleasantry, and an artistic experiment in blasphemy which is taken seriously by the unwise.

She looked up with a sort of half smile, as if she suspected some pleasantry of which she had not yet detected the drift.

"I think there is no necessity for carrying a pleasantry into our private life," she said, in a perfectly amiable voice.

This was evidently local pleasantry, for the old man cackled over it, and his cronies joined in with gusto.

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