displacency

English

Etymology

From Latin displacentia, for displicentia, from displicere (“to displease”), from dis- + placere (“to please”). See displease, and compare displeasance.

Noun

displacency (countable and uncountable, plural displacencies)

1. (obsolete) Lack of complacency or gratification; envious displeasure; dislike.
   • 1716, Thomas Browne, edited by Samuel Johnson, Christian Morals‎^[1], 2nd edition, London: J. Payne, published 1756, Part I, p. 20:

     A displacency at the good of others because they enjoy it, though not unworthy of it, is an absurd depravity, sticking fast unto corrupted nature, and often too hard for humility and charity, the great suppressors of envy.

   • 1766, John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection‎^[2], 5th edition, London, published 1785, page 16:

     He feels a displacency at every offence against God, but only tender compassion to the offender.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “displacency”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)