to arouse the curiosity or interest of by unusual, new, or otherwise fascinating or compelling qualities; appeal strongly to; captivate: The plan intrigues me, but I wonder if it will work.
2.
to achieve or earn by appealing to another's curiosity, fancy, or interest: to intrigue one's way into another's notice.
3.
to draw or capture: Her interest was intrigued by the strange symbol.
4.
to accomplish or force by crafty plotting or underhand machinations.
5.
Obsolete. to entangle.
6.
Obsolete. to trick or cheat.
–verb (used without object)
7.
to plot craftily or underhandedly.
8.
to carry on a secret or illicit love affair.
–noun
9.
the use of underhand machinations or deceitful stratagems.
10.
such a machination or stratagem or a series of them; a plot or crafty dealing: political intrigues.
11.
a secret or illicit love affair.
12.
the series of complications forming the plot of a play.
[Origin: 1640–50; < F intriguer < It intrigare < L intrīcāre to entangle; see intricate]
v.
(ĭn-trēg') in·trigued, in·trigu·ing, in·trigues
v.
intr.
To engage in secret or underhand schemes; plot.
v.
tr.
To effect by secret scheming or plotting.
To arouse the interest or curiosity of: Hibernation has long intrigued biologists.
[From French intriguer, to plot, from Italian intrigare, to plot, from Latin intrīcāre, to entangle; see intricate.]
in·trigu'er n., in'trigu'ing·ly adv.
Usage Note: The introduction of the verb intrigue to mean "to arouse the interest or curiosity of" was initially resisted by writers on usage as an unneeded French substitute for available English words such as interest, fascinate, or puzzle, but it now appears to be well established. Seventy-eight percent of the Usage Panel accepts it in the sentence The special-quota idea intrigues some legislators, who have asked a Washington think tank to evaluate it, whereas only 52 percent accepted it in a 1968 survey.
1612, "to trick, deceive, cheat," from Fr. intriguer, from It. intrigare "to plot, meddle," from L. intricare "entangle" (see intricate). Meaning "to plot or scheme" first recorded 1714. The noun is from 1647. Intriguing "exciting interest" is from 1909.
In"tri*cate\, a. [L. intricatus, p. p. of intricare to entangle, perplex. Cf. Intrigue, Extricate.] Entangled; involved; perplexed; complicated; difficult to understand, follow, arrange, or adjust; as, intricate machinery, labyrinths, accounts, plots, etc. His style was fit to convey the most intricate business to the understanding with the utmost clearness. --Addison. The nature of man is intricate. --Burke. Syn: Intricate, Complex, Complicated. Usage: A thing is complex when it is made up of parts; it is complicated when those parts are so many, or so arranged, as to make it difficult to grasp them; it is intricate when it has numerous windings and confused involutions which it is hard to follow out. What is complex must be resolved into its parts; what is complicated must be drawn out and developed; what is intricate must be unraveled.
In*trigue"\ ([i^]n*tr[=e]g"), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Intrigued (-tr[=e]gd"); p. pr. & vb. n. Intriguing.] [F. intriguer, OF. intriquer, entriquer; cf. It. intrigare. See Intricate, Extricate.]1. To form a plot or scheme; to contrive to accomplish a purpose by secret artifice. 2. To carry on a secret and illicit love or amour.
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Audio Help [v. in-treeg; n. in-treeg, in-treeg] Pronunciation Key verb, -trigued, -tri·guing, noun 
