[v. in-treeg; n. in-treeg, in-treeg] 
verb, -trigued, -tri⋅guing, noun | 1. | 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. |
| 7. | to plot craftily or underhandedly. |
| 8. | to carry on a secret or illicit love affair. |
| 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. |
| in·trigue (ĭn'trēg', ĭn-trēg') n.
v. intr. To engage in secret or underhand schemes; plot. v. tr.
[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. |
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