What does complaisance in French mean?

What is the meaning of the word complaisance in French? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use complaisance in French.

The word complaisance in French means kindness, indulgence, deference, complacency, bogus certificate, phony certificate, phoney certificate, of convenience, flag of convenience, uncompromising, unreserved, unsparing. To learn more, please see the details below.

Listen to pronunciation

Meaning of the word complaisance

kindness

nom féminin (amabilité)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Il ne faut pas abuser de la complaisance des gens.
We should not exploit people's complacency.

indulgence

nom féminin (indulgence exagérée)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Son père a toujours eu beaucoup de complaisance envers lui.
His father has always shown great indulgence towards him.

deference

nom féminin (acte pour plaire)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Il agit envers elle avec complaisance.
He acts in deference to her.

complacency

nom féminin (soutenu (contentement excessif)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
La complaisance du nouvel élu était offensante pour ses malheureux adversaires.

bogus certificate, phony certificate, phoney certificate

nom féminin (attestation infondée)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Ce ne peut être qu'une attestation de complaisance, il n'a même pas terminé la formation.

of convenience

locution adjectivale (obtenu injustement) (marriage)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")

flag of convenience

nom masculin (navigation : affiliation peu regardante) (nautical, business)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Les pavillons de complaisance sont des paradis administratifs pour les armateurs.

uncompromising, unreserved, unsparing

locution adverbiale (sans ménagement)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")

Let's learn French

So now that you know more about the meaning of complaisance in French, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in French.

Do you know about French

French (le français) is a Romance language. Like Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, it comes from popular Latin, once used in the Roman Empire. A French-speaking person or country can be called a "Francophone". French is the official language in 29 countries. French is the fourth most spoken native language in the European Union. French ranks third in the EU, after English and German, and is the second most widely taught language after English. The majority of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa, with about 141 million Africans from 34 countries and territories who can speak French as a first or second language. French is the second most widely spoken language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. It is the first language of 9.5 million people or 29% and the second language of 2.07 million people or 6% of the entire population of Canada. In contrast to other continents, French has no popularity in Asia. Currently, no country in Asia recognizes French as an official language.