gratify
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
-
to satisfy or please
-
to yield to or indulge (a desire, whim, etc)
-
obsolete to reward
Related Words
See humor.
Other Word Forms
- gratifiable adjective
- gratifiedly adverb
- gratifier noun
- overgratify verb (used with object)
- pregratify verb (used with object)
- supergratify verb (used with object)
- ungratifiable adjective
- ungratified adjective
- well-gratified adjective
Etymology
Origin of gratify
1350–1400; Middle English gratifien < Latin grātificāre, equivalent to grāt ( us ) pleasing + -i- -i- + -ficāre -fy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Finding the least taxing way to activate your inner circle could gratify — and edify — all involved, and restore a sense of control over your own well-being.
From Washington Post • Dec. 21, 2022
The pangram from yesterday’s Spelling Bee was gratify.
From New York Times • Aug. 9, 2022
Too often, ads are written to gratify sellers rather than bring in buyers, according to Saatchi.
From Seattle Times • May 24, 2022
It enacts the experience, purposefully discommoding that part of the audience that has long expected plays to gratify their emotional pleasures and endorse their sense of moral righteousness.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 1, 2020
That was the way he lived; he passed his days trying to defeat or gratify powerful impulses in a world he feared.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
