Word.ws English Dictionary

pleasance

/ˈplɛzəns/

pleasance noun: a pleasure ground laid out with shady walks, trees and shrubs, statuary, and ornamental water; a secluded part of a garden.

Noun

pleasance (countable and uncountable, plural pleasances)

  1. A pleasure ground laid out with shady walks, trees and shrubs, statuary, and ornamental water; a secluded part of a garden.
    • the pleasances of old Elizabethan houses1859, John Ruskin, The Two Paths
    • It is a tropical pleasance, washed by a noble river.1924 June 4, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, A Passage to India, London: Edward Arnold & Co., →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    pleasure garden
  2. (obsolete) Willingness to please, or the action of pleasing; courtesy.
  3. (obsolete) The feeling of being pleased; pleasure, delight.
    • Now ſtands the Brere like a Loꝛd alone, / Puffed vp with pꝛyde and vaine pleaſaunce: […]1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Februarie. Ægloga Secunda.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 6, verso

Proper noun capitalized: Pleasance

Pleasance

  1. A female given name from French.
    • Similarly, the verse at the close of Through the Looking Glass is an acrostic for Alice Pleasance Liddell.2008, Sherry L. Ackerman, Behind the Looking Glass, page 32
  2. A surname transferred from the given name.

Synonyms of pleasance

Forms of pleasance

pluralpleasances
alternative formplaisance
alternative formplaisaunce
alternative formpleasaunce

Origin of pleasance

From Middle English plaisaunce, plesaunce, from Old French plaisance. By surface analysis, please + -ance.

From an Old French female given name Plaisance, from plaisance (“pleasance”). The surname is partly matronymic, partly habitational from the Italian town of Piacenza.

Words that rhyme with pleasance

Questions about pleasance

What does pleasance mean?
Pleasance means a pleasure ground laid out with shady walks, trees and shrubs, statuary, and ornamental water; a secluded part of a garden.
What part of speech is pleasance?
Pleasance can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce pleasance?
Pleasance is pronounced /ˈplɛzəns/.
What is the plural of pleasance?
The plural of pleasance is pleasances.

Words near pleasance in the dictionary

  1. pleas of the crown
  2. pleas'd
  3. pleasability
  4. pleasable
  5. pleasableness
  6. pleasance
  7. pleasances
  8. pleasant
  9. Pleasant Grove
  10. Pleasant Hill
  11. Pleasant Hills

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pleasance (page history and authors); Pleasance (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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