What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Please vs Content - What's the difference?

please | content |

In transitive terms the difference between please and content

is that please is to make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to while content is to give contentment or satisfaction; to satisfy; to gratify; to appease.

As an adverb please

is lang=en|Used to make a polite request.

As a noun content is

that which is contained.

As an adjective content is

satisfied; in a state of satisfaction.

please

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) ).

Alternative forms

* (l)

Verb

(pleas)
  • (label) To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./1/1
    • , passage=And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties?; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, […].}}
  • To desire; to will; to be pleased by.
  • * Bible, (Psalms) cxxxv. 6
    • Whatsoever the Lord pleased , that did he.
    Synonyms
    * (to make happy) satisfy * (to desire) desire, will
    Antonyms
    * (to make happy) annoy, irritate, disgust, displease
    Related terms
    * pleasant * pleasurable * pleasure

    Etymology 2

    Short for if you please, an intransitive, ergative form taken from which replaced pray .

    Alternative forms

    * (for the exaggerated way it is often pronounced as the expression of annoyance) puh-lease

    Adverb

    (-)
    • Please , pass the bread.
    Would you please sign this form?
    Could you tell me the time, please ?
    • —May I help you? —Please .
    • Oh, please , do we have to hear that again?
    Derived terms
    * pretty please

    Etymology 3

    Calque of (etyl) [//books.google.com/books?id=4e7XLGfekD8C&pg=PA16][http://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/article/how-to-speak-cincinnatiese/]

    Adverb

    (-)
  • [http://www.daredictionary.com/view/dare/ID_00044218]
  • * 1973: "Bitte or Bitter?", , August 1973, p. 109 [//books.google.com/books?id=CesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA109]
    • Fellow: May I have a few days off to get married?
    Reply, in the Cincinnati idiom by a boss who had heard the sound but not the sense:
    Boss: Please ?
  • * 1978: Virginia Watson-Rouslin, "A Foreign View", Cincinnati , September 1978, p. 110 [//books.google.com/books?id=cesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA110]
    • Even though I heard it was supposed to be German-Catholic background, there’s only one thing German — they say ‘please ’ [for the more common ‘pardon me’], which comes from bitte .
  • * 1979: "Winners: Contest No. 13—The Laugh’s On Us", Cincinnati , September 1979, volume 12, issue 12, p. 15 [//books.google.com/books?id=dusCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15]
    • “…He explained in broken English that one of his daughters was ill and he probably could not be there. I did not understand all that he said, so asked, ‘Please ?’ per Cincinnati custom. ‘There is no need to plead. I will be there if she is feeling better,’ he replied.”
  • * 1998: Jose I. Sarasua, "Come to Cincinnati... Please?", Cost Engineering , volume 40, issue 5, 5 May 1998, p. 9 [http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/editorials/664754/come-cincinnati-please]
    • Cincinnati are some of the most polite persons I have ever met in the US. When asking someone a question, instead of saying “Excuse me,” or “Pardon,” they say “Please ?”
  • * 2001: Jeff Robinson, "Say what?", Ohio Magazine , April 2001, p. 77 [http://lrc.ohio.edu/lrcmedia/Streaming/lingCALL/ling270/saywhat.pdf?page=2]
    • By the same token, one contestant who doesn’t hear a particular question could say “Pardon me?” while another could say “Please ?” Again, neither would be lying if he said he was from Ohio.
  • * 2008: , The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English , ISBN 0374254109, p. 255 [//books.google.com/books?id=3eerb4RTYF8C&pg=PA255]
    • In Maine, where as much as a quarter of the population has French ancestry, you may hear a stray hair called a couette'', and in parts of Ohio ''please'' is used in the same way as the German ''bitte , to invite a person to repeat something just said – apparently a remnant of the bilingual schooling once available in Cincinnati.
  • * 2011: Ellen McIntyre, Nancy Hulan, Vicky Layne, Reading Instruction for Diverse Classrooms: Research-Based, Culturally Responsive Practice , Guilford Press, ISBN 1609180569, p. 72 [//books.google.com/books?id=m7BAOCj8mHQC&pg=PA72]
    • Ellen grew up outside of Cincinnati and believed her own talk was the “norm,” while others were speakers of dialects. She was in graduate school before she learned that not all people say, Please ?'' to mean ''Can you repeat that?
    Synonyms
    * (request to repeat) what, excuse me, pardon me, come again

    References

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * asleep, elapse English terms with multiple etymologies 1000 English basic words

    content

    English

    (wikipedia content)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) ; see contain.

    Noun

  • (uncountable) That which is contained.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
    • , volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content ", or
  • Subject matter; substance.
  • * Grew
    • I shall prove these writingsauthentic, and the contents true, and worthy of a divine original.
  • The amount of material contained; contents.
  • Capacity for holding.
  • * (Francis Bacon)
    • Strong ships, of great content .
  • (mathematics) The n''-dimensional space contained by an ''n''-dimensional polytope (called ''volume'' in the case of a polyhedron and ''area in the case of a polygon).

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl), from (etyl) content, from (etyl) ; see contain.

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Satisfied; in a state of satisfaction.
  • *
  • *:This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking.He was smooth-faced, and his fresh skin and well-developed figure bespoke the man in good physical condition through active exercise, yet well content with the world's apportionment.
    • Derived terms
    * contentment
    Synonyms
    * (satisfied) contented, pleased, satisfied

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) , from (contenter); see content as a verb.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Satisfaction; contentment
    • They were in a state of sleepy content after supper.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Such is the fullness of my heart's content .
  • (obsolete) acquiescence without examination
  • * Alexander Pope
    • The sense they humbly take upon content .
  • That which contents or satisfies; that which if attained would make one happy.
  • * Shakespeare
    • So will I in England work your grace's full content .
  • (UK, House of Lords) An expression of assent to a bill or motion; an affirmate vote.
  • (UK, House of Lords) A member who votes in assent.
    • Derived terms
    * discontent * malcontent

    Etymology 4

    From (etyl) contenter, from ; see content as an adjective.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To give contentment or satisfaction; to satisfy; to gratify; to appease.
    • You can't have any more - you'll have to content yourself with what you already have.
  • * Bible, Mark xv. 15
    • Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them.
  • * I. Watts
    • Do not content yourselves with obscure and confused ideas, where clearer are to be attained.
  • (obsolete) To satisfy the expectations of; to pay; to requite.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Come the next Sabbath, and I will content you.

    External links

    * * English heteronyms ----