A state of peaceful happiness or satisfaction with one's present circumstances..
A state of peaceful happiness or satisfaction with one's present circumstances.
“Contentment is passive; satisfaction is active” (Century Dictionary). It is not pining after what is out of reach — distinct from the active pleasure of satisfaction or the higher arousal of joy. A needy person can be contented but hardly satisfied.
From Old French contentment, ultimately from Latin contentus “contained, satisfied.”
mid-15c., originally “satisfactory payment” (of a debt), from Old French; ultimately Latin contentus. The modern emotional sense dates from the 1590s.
Shifted from a financial/legal sense (“satisfactory payment”) in the 15th c. to the emotional sense of placid satisfaction by the 1590s. No reliable evidence of a notable recent-generation shift.