enjoyment

noun — 4 senses

enjoyment

noun

/ɪnˈd͡ʒɔɪ.mənt/ · /ənˈd͡ʒɔɪ.mənt/

Etymology From enjoy + -ment.

1

The condition of enjoying anything.

  • Few activities better the enjoyment of a hearty meal eaten in good company.
  • Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
1 more example
  • Our Republic continues to increase in the enjoyment of freedom within its borders, and to offer strength and encouragement to all those who love freedom throughout the world.1950 January 4, Harry S. Truman, Fifth State of the Union Address:
2

An enjoyable state of mind; a feeling of satisfaction or delight from a situation.

  • I experienced more enjoyment from summer camp than any part of school.
  • All acts suppose certain dispositions, and habits of mind and heart, which may be in themselves states of enjoyment or of wretchedness, and which must be fruitful in other consequences besides those particular acts.1833, John Stuart Mill, Remarks on Bentham's Philosophy:
3

An activity that gives pleasure.

  • Is it, haply, an idle occupation, or is the time ill-spent that is spent in roaming the world in quest, not of its enjoyments, but of those arduous toils whereby the good mount upwards to the abodes of everlasting life?1885, John Ormsby, Don Quixote, translation of original by Miguel de Cervantes, published 1605, 1615:
4

Law The exercise of a legal right.

Derived terms
disenjoyment, reenjoyment, unenjoyment
Related terms
amusement, joy, happiness, hedonism

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.