Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COM-PLA'CENCE, or COM-PLA'CEN-CY, n. [L. complacens, complaceo; con and placeo, to please; Fr. complaire, complaisant; It. compiacere, compiacente; Sp. complacer.]

1. Pleasure; satisfaction; gratification. It is more than approbation, and less than delight or joy. Others proclaim the infirmities of a great man with satisfaction and complacency, if they discover none of the like in themselves. – Addison.
2. The cause of pleasure or joy. – Milton.
3. Complaisance; civility; softness of manners; deportment and address that afford pleasure. Complacency, and truth, and manly sweetness, / Dwell ever on his tongue, and smooth his thoughts. – Addison. In the latter sense, complaisance, from the French, is now used. [See Complaisance.]