Word.ws English Dictionary

displacency

displacency noun: lack of complacency or gratification; displeasure or dislike.

Noun

displacency (countable and uncountable, plural displacencies)

  1. (obsolete) Lack of complacency or gratification; displeasure or dislike.
    • A displacency at the good of others because they enjoy it, though not unworthy of it, is an absurd depravity, sticking fast unto corrupted nature, and often too hard for humility and charity, the great suppressors of envy.1716, Thomas Browne, edited by Samuel Johnson, Christian Morals, 2nd edition, London: J. Payne, published 1756, Part I, p. 20
    • He feels a displacency at every offence against God, but only tender compassion to the offender.1766, John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, 5th edition, London, published 1785, page 16

Forms of displacency

pluraldisplacencies

Origin of displacency

From Latin displacentia, for displicentia, from displicere (“to displease”), from dis- + placere (“to please”). See displease, and compare displeasance.

Questions about displacency

What does displacency mean?
Displacency means lack of complacency or gratification; displeasure or dislike.
What part of speech is displacency?
Displacency is a noun.
What is the plural of displacency?
The plural of displacency is displacencies.

Words near displacency in the dictionary

  1. displacement speeds
  2. displacement ton
  3. displacement tons
  4. displacements
  5. displacencies
  6. displacency
  7. displacer
  8. displacers
  9. displaces
  10. displacing
  11. displacive

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: displacency (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “displacency.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/displacency. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.