complaisance

/kɑmˈpleɪsəns/

Other forms: complaisances

Complaisance is a quality of being eager to please or happy to follow instructions. Your new puppy's complaisance is going to make her easy to train.

This characteristic is usually positive — think of a happy preschool teacher with a class of cheerful students whose complaisance keeps them sitting eagerly in a circle, listening to a story. Sometimes, however, the word is used for people who unthinkingly follow directions to their detriment: "The students' complaisance means they keep eating those terrible school lunches without ever questioning why there aren't more fresh fruits and vegetables."

Definitions of complaisance

1. noun

   a disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others
   synonyms: compliance, compliancy, deference, obligingness

   type of:

   agreeability, agreeableness

   a temperamental disposition to be agreeable