GRATIFY (gratified)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: gratified   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gratify mean? 

• GRATIFY (verb)
  The verb GRATIFY has 2 senses:

1. make happy or satisfied

2. yield (to); give satisfaction to

  Familiarity information: GRATIFY used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GRATIFY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they gratify    ... he / she / it gratifies   
Past simple: gratified   
Past participle: gratified   
-ing form: gratifying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make happy or satisfied

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

gratify; satisfy

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "gratify"):

delight; please (give pleasure to or be pleasing to)

please (give satisfaction)

content (make content)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to gratify Sue

Derivation:

gratification (the act or an instance of satisfying)

gratification (state of being gratified or satisfied)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Yield (to); give satisfaction to

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

gratify; indulge; pander

Hypernyms (to "gratify" is one way to...):

cater; ply; provide; supply (give what is desired or needed, especially support, food or sustenance)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "gratify"):

humor; humour (put into a good mood)

spree (engage without restraint in an activity and indulge, as when shopping)

sow one's oats; sow one's wild oats (live promiscuously and self-indulgently)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

Sam cannot gratify Sue

Derivation:

gratification (the act or an instance of satisfying)

 Context examples 

My whim is gratified; and now I think Mr. Eshton will do well to put the hag in the stocks to-morrow morning, as he threatened.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Of all the family, Mary was probably the one most immediately gratified by the circumstance.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

"As sure as this is my girl!" and Laurie tucked her hand under his arm with the air of a man whose every wish was gratified.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Being sled-leader was anything but gratifying to him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

James soon followed his letter, and was received with the most gratifying kindness.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

With a faint blush, she presently replied, Such attentions as Mrs. Elton's, I should have imagined, would rather disgust than gratify Miss Fairfax.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Jane was as much gratified by this as her mother could be, though in a quieter way.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

It's very gratifying and agreeable to me, I am sure; but don't you think you could do better?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

You will find it gratifying to see those profits because you were never quite sure they’d materialize—they will, and you deserve them.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

You may easily imagine that I was much gratified by the offered communication, yet I could not endure that he should renew his grief by a recital of his misfortunes.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)