Link Centre Dictionary

delectation

de·lec·ta·tion

UK/ˌdiːlɛkˈteɪʃən/ US/ˌdɪlɛkˈteɪʃən/ uncommon

noun

1.

a feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction

  • “his delight to see her was obvious to all”
Synonyms
2.

act of receiving pleasure from something

Synonyms

Origin

Attested from the mid 14th century, from Old French delectation (“enjoyment”), from Latin dēlectātiōnem, accusative singular of dēlectātiō, from the verb Latin dēlectō (“to delight, charm, please”), frequentative of dēliciō, from de- (“away”) + laciō (“to lure, to deceive”), from Proto-Italic *lakjō (“to draw, pull”), of unknown ultimate origin. By surface analysis, delect + -ation or delectate + -ion. Related to delight and delicious.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.