contentment

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

contentment

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle French contentement. By surface analysis, content +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈtɛntmənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧tent‧ment

Noun

contentment (usually uncountable, plural contentments)

1. The state or degree of being contented or satisfied.
   • 1620, Giovanni Bocaccio, translated by John Florio, The Decameron, Containing an Hundred Pleaſant Nouels: Wittily Diſcourſed, Betweene Seuen Honourable Ladies, and Three Noble Gentlemen‎, Isaac Iaggard, Nouell 8, The Eighth Day:

     […] purſued his vnneighbourly purpoſe in ſuch ſort: that hee being the ſtronger perſwader, and ſhe (belike) too credulous in beleeuing or elſe ouer-feeble in reſiſting, from priuate imparlance, they fell to action; and continued their cloſe fight a long while together, vnſeene and vvithout ſuſpition, no doubt to their equall ioy and contentment.

   • 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:

     Then they got out their boat from the boat-house, sculled down the river home, and at a very late hour sat down to supper in their own cosy riverside parlour, to the Rat's great joy and contentment.

2. Happiness in one's situation; satisfaction
3. The neurophysiological experience of satisfaction and being at ease in one's situation, body, and/or mind.

Antonyms

• discontent, discontentment, dissatisfaction

Translations

state or degree of being contented

Arabic: رِضَا (ar) (riḍā) Bulgarian: задоволство (bg) n (zadovolstvo) Esperanto: kontento Finnish: tyytyväisyys (fi) French: contentement (fr) m German: Zufriedenheit (de), Genügsamkeit (de) Greek: ικανοποίηση (el) f (ikanopoíisi) Hindi: संतुष्टि (hi) f (santuṣṭi), संतोष (hi) m (santoṣ), तृप्ति (hi) f (tŕpti) Hungarian: elégedettség (hu), megelégedés (hu), megelégedettség (hu) Irish: sástacht f, suáilceas m Maori: uruhautanga Marathi: समाधान (mr) n (samādhān) Polish: zadowolenie (pl) n Portuguese: contentamento (pt), satisfação (pt) Romanian: satisfacție (ro) f, mulțumire (ro) f Russian: удовлетворённость (ru) f (udovletvorjónnostʹ) Scottish Gaelic: suaimhneas m Serbo-Croatian: zadovoljstvo (sh) Spanish: contentamiento (es) m, satisfacción (es) f, contentura f, contenteza (es) f Ukrainian: задово́лення n (zadovólennja), задово́леність f (zadovólenistʹ)

Further reading

• “contentment”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “contentment”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.