# Are there antonyms for mistress and disappointment?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 24, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725 "2005-10-24T20:45:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/1 "2005-10-24T20:45:52Z")
See subject. By mistress, I mean the definition “an illicit lover outside of wedlock, female.” Is there a male equivalent?
the closest I can figure for disappointment is “pleasant surprise” but it’s 2 words, and doesn’t really convey the meaning. I don’t suppose you can say “Wow, that movie was really appointing!” can you?
---
### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/2 "2005-10-24T20:56:07Z")
> [@gonzoron](#):
>
> See subject. By mistress, I mean the definition “an illicit lover outside of wedlock, female.” Is there a male equivalent?
Cuckold?
> [@](#):
>
> the closest I can figure for disappointment is “pleasant surprise” but it’s 2 words, and doesn’t really convey the meaning. I don’t suppose you can say “Wow, that movie was really appointing!” can you?
Satisfaction/satisfying?
---
### Author:  [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/3 "2005-10-24T21:00:06Z")
Well, in northern New Mexico, the term “penko” is used for a male extramarital lover. I don’t think it’s proper spanish.
---
### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/4 "2005-10-24T21:02:20Z")
> [@pravnik](#):
>
> Cuckold?
Actually, I’m not sure that would work; I think that’s strictly a man whose wife is cheating on him. Maybe “cuckolder.”
---
### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/5 "2005-10-24T21:08:45Z")
_Paramour_ is a word for an illicit lover, though it is not sex-specific.
> [@pravnik](#):
>
> Cuckold?
The _husband_ of a woman who had an illicit lover would be a cuckold, not the lover himself.
---
### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/6 "2005-10-24T21:11:45Z")
A slangier term for an illicit male lover is “back door man” (“the men don’t know, but the little girls, they understand”).
---
### Author:  [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/7 "2005-10-24T21:11:50Z")
“Disappointed” means that there were expectations, and they were not met. “Pleasantly surprised” does not seem to be the opposite of that; the opposite would be that expectations were met, not that they were exceeded.
---
### Author:  [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/8 "2005-10-24T21:17:23Z")
The antonym of disappointment is obviously “appointment”. It’s a perfectly cromulent word. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/9 "2005-10-24T21:24:25Z")
I guess technically, the antonym of mistress is wife…
---
### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/10 "2005-10-24T21:25:12Z")
For the opposite of “disappointment,” I would suggest “serendipity,” that is, “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.”
> [@Cagey Drifter](#):
>
> “Disappointed” means that there were expectations, and they were not met. “Pleasantly surprised” does not seem to be the opposite of that; the opposite would be that expectations were met, not that they were exceeded.
That is one interpretation, and in fact Merriam Webster gives the antonym of “disappoint” as “satisfy.” However, I find that unsatisfying. Another interpretation would be that if you are disappointed, what you found is less than what you expected; so that the opposite should indicate that you found more than you expected.
---
### Author:  [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/11 "2005-10-24T21:28:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> disappointment
Elation?
---
### Author:  [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2005, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/12 "2005-10-26T07:48:52Z")
doxy
---
### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2005, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/13 "2005-10-26T08:29:47Z")
Some words just don’t have antonyms. I’m sorry to have to tell you this.
---
### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2005, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/14 "2005-10-26T11:50:12Z")
> [@gonzoron](#):
>
> See subject. By mistress, I mean the definition “an illicit lover outside of wedlock, female.” Is there a male equivalent?
toy boy?
---
### Author:  [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/15 "2005-10-26T15:12:44Z")
From Merriam-Webster online:
Entry Word: disappointment
Function: noun
\<…\>
Near Antonyms bliss, felicity, gladness, happiness, joy
Antonyms contentment, gratification, satisfaction
---
### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/16 "2005-10-26T15:53:41Z")
I would suggest relief or fulfillment, as other near-antonyms of disappointment, depending on the context.
I would suggest inamorato as another word for a woman’s lover, whether she be married or not.
---
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/17 "2005-10-26T16:17:47Z")
I wish some respondents would take this question more seriously. Y’know, be more chalant about it.
😃
---
### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/18 "2005-10-26T16:29:16Z")
Mimbo? Gigolo? Piece?
I think “satisfaction” is the best antonym of “disappointment.”
---
### Author:  [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/19 "2005-10-26T17:11:41Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#):
>
> I wish some respondents would take this question more seriously. Y’know, be more chalant about it.
>
> 😃
Hmmm, by the same logic the antonym for “disappointment” would then be “appointment” 😉
---
### Author:  [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725/20 "2005-10-26T17:45:35Z")
The actual equivalent of mistress is giggolo.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-antonyms-for-mistress-and-disappointment/327725.md?page=2)