gratify

From French gratifier, from Latin grātificō (“to do a favor to, oblige, please, gratify”), from grātus (“kind, pleasing”) + faciō (“to make”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡrætɪfaɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: grat‧i‧fy

gratify (third-person singular simple present gratifies, present participle gratifying, simple past and past participle gratified)

1. (transitive) To please.

   Synonyms: happify, gladden; see also Thesaurus:gladden

   Antonyms: anger, disquiet, fluster

2. (transitive) To make content; to satisfy.

   Synonyms: conciliate, placate; see also Thesaurus:satisfy

   Antonyms: discontent, dissatisfy

   gratify the critics

   gratify the voters

• “gratify”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “gratify”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.