captivate
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˈkæptɪveɪt/
Verb

captivate (captivates, present participle captivating; past and past participle captivated)

  1. To attract and hold interest and attention of; charm.
    • small landscapes of captivating loveliness
  2. (obsolete) To take prisoner; to capture; to subdue.
    • c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene iv]:
      Their woes whom fortune captivates.
    • 'Tis a greater credit to know the ways of captivating Nature, and making her subserve our purposes, than to have learned all the intrigues of policy.
Related terms Translations


This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.013
Offline English dictionary