enjoy

Enjoy is a verb meaning to take pleasure or satisfaction in something. It can describe a direct experience (I enjoyed the concert) or a more general state of leisure (They enjoyed themselves on vacation). It is typically transitive, used with an object (enjoy something), but it can also be used in an intransitive form with a reflexive pronoun (enjoy yourself) or in constructions like enjoy doing something.

Etymology: The word derives from Old French enjoier “to delight,” from joie “joy,” and appears in English in the 14th century.

Usage: Common patterns include enjoy + noun (enjoy the movie) and enjoy + -ing form (enjoy reading). The phrase enjoy yourself is used to wish someone a pleasant time. In negative statements, not everyone will enjoy every experience, and context matters for conveying mood or taste. In more formal writing, phrases like take pleasure in may be preferred.

Related forms: enjoyment (the noun for the act or state of enjoying), enjoyable (adjective describing something pleasant or satisfying).

See also: pleasure, leisure, happiness.