GRATIFYING • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Gratifying

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/grˈætəfˌaɪɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Gratify v. t. (past & past part. gratified; pres. part. gratifying)

To please; to give pleasure to; to satisfy; to soothe; to indulge; as, to gratify the taste, the appetite, the senses, the desires, the mind, etc. "For who would die to gratify a foe?"

To requite; to recompense. (Obs.) "It remains... To gratify his noble service."

Synonyms: To indulge; humor please; delight; requite; recompense. To Gratify, Indulge, Humor. Gratify, is the generic term, and has reference simply to the pleasure communicated. To indulge a person implies that we concede something to his wishes or his weaknesses which he could not claim, and which had better, perhaps, be spared. To humor is to adapt ourselves to the varying moods, and, perhaps, caprices, of others. We gratify a child by showing him the sights of a large city; we indulge him in some extra expense on such an occasion; we humor him when he is tired and exacting.

adjective

gratifying adj.

Giving personal satisfaction.

Synonyms: appreciated, pleasing, satisfying.

Occasioning pride; as, a gratifying accomplishment.

Pleasing to the mind or feeling.

Synonyms: sweet.

Affording pleasure or satisfaction.

Synonyms: enjoyable, pleasurable.

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Etymology of 'Gratifying'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Gratifying" Quotes from Famous Books

... But gratifying as it was to me to contemplate this sacred edifice, yet we were anxious not to lose time in reaching the valleys, so we left by the afternoon train for Pinerolo, a town of ominous memories as regards its past connection with its Protestant neighbours. Missionaries, monks, and soldiers have ...

— The Vaudois of Piedmont - A Visit to their Valleys • John Napper Worsfold

... experiments along this line, having twice told a story to an audience in America[12] exceeding five thousand, but on both occasions, though the dramatic reaction upon oneself from the response of so large an audience was both gratifying and stimulating, I was forced to sacrifice the delicacy of the story and to take from its artistic value by the necessity of emphasis, in order to ...

— The Art of the Story-Teller • Marie L. Shedlock

... what it meant. I gathered that what it really meant was something like this: that every man over forty had been all the essential use that he was likely to be, and was therefore in a manner a parasite. It is gratifying to reflect that Bernard Shaw has sufficiently answered his own epigram by continuing to pour out treasures both of truth and folly long after this allotted time. But if the epigram might be interpreted ...

— George Bernard Shaw • Gilbert K. Chesterton

... as a stimulus to exertion; indolence would certainly get the better of us if it were not for these two powerful principles'; and there is a keen touch of humour in the following: 'Nothing is so gratifying as the idea that virtue and philanthropy are becoming fashionable.' Dr. James Martineau, in a letter to Mrs. Ross, gives us a pleasant picture of the old lady returning from market 'weighted by her huge basket, with the shank of a leg of mutton ...

— Reviews • Oscar Wilde

... Ross, in order to prosecute some botanical researches, intending to rejoin us by means of an Aleutian baidar, several of which were shortly to proceed to St. Francisco in search of otters. This promised chase was a gratifying circumstance to me, as I had it in contemplation to examine several of the rivers that fall into the Bay of St. Francisco, for which purpose the small Aleutian vessels would probably prove extremely serviceable. The north-west wind is prevalent here during summer, and rain ...

— A New Voyage Round the World, in the years 1823, 24, 25, and 26, Vol. 2 • Otto von Kotzebue

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