displeasing

D2I1S1P3L1E1A1S1I1N1G2
/dɪsˈpliːzɪŋ/

adjective

Unattractive, dislikable, objectionable.

“After the hurricane, the building was structurally sound but aesthetically displeasing.”

Opposite
UncommonScrabble 15

Meanings

adjectivedispleasing (comparative more displeasing, superlative most displeasing)

comparative more displeasing · superlative most displeasing

  1. Unattractive, dislikable, objectionable.

    After the hurricane, the building was structurally sound but aesthetically displeasing.

    3 more examples

    Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice; […]

    1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Search for Mr. Hyde”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 25

    […]but after all there's nothing less displeasing to me than a beefsteak smothered in mushrooms on a balcony in sound of the Broadway streetcars, with a hand-organ playing down below, and the boys hollering extras about the latest suicide.

    1908, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hostages to Momus”, in The Gentle Grafter, New York, N.Y.: The McClure Company, →OCLC

    The taking of life being displeasing to Buddha, outside many of the temples old women and children earn a livelihood by selling sparrows, small eels, carp, and tortoises, which the worshipper sets free in honour of the deity, within whose territory cocks and hens and doves, tame and unharmed, perch on every jutty, frieze, buttress, and coigne of vantage.

    1910, Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, Tales of Old Japan
verb
  1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of displease

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivecausing displeasure or lacking pleasing qualities

Opposite

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Old Frenchdesplaisant
  2. Englishdispleasing

Perhaps a calque of Old French desplaisant, from the verb desplere (“to displease”). By surface analysis, dis- + pleasing.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Esperanto malagrabla
  • malagrablaunattractive, dislikable, objectionable
Finnish epämiellyttävä
  • epämiellyttäväunattractive, dislikable, objectionable
Irish míthaitneamhach
  • míthaitneamhachunattractive, dislikable, objectionable
Cite this entry
APA

displeasing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/displeasing

MLA

“displeasing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/displeasing. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “displeasing,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/displeasing.

Source: displeasing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.