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tantalize

 - 3 dictionary results

tan⋅ta⋅lize

  [tan-tl-ahyz]
Use tantalize in a Sentence
–verb (used with object), -lized, -liz⋅ing.
to torment with, or as if with, the sight of something desired but out of reach; tease by arousing expectations that are repeatedly disappointed.
Also, especially British, tan⋅ta⋅lise.

Origin:
1590–1600; Tantal(us) + -ize

Related forms:
tan⋅ta⋅li⋅za⋅tion, noun
tan⋅ta⋅liz⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
provoke, taunt, tempt; frustrate.

Antonyms:
satisfy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To tantalize
tan·ta·lize   (tān'tə-līz')   
tr.v.   tan·ta·lized, tan·ta·liz·ing, tan·ta·liz·es
To excite (another) by exposing something desirable while keeping it out of reach.

[From Latin Tantalus, Tantalus; see Tantalus.]
tan'ta·li·za'tion (-lĭ-zā'shən) n., tan'ta·liz'er n., tan'ta·liz'ing·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

tantalize 
1597, from L. Tantalus, from Gk. Tantalos, king of Phrygia, son of Zeus, punished in the afterlife (for an offense variously given) by being made to stand in a river up to his chin, under branches laden with fruit, all of which withdrew from his reach whenever he tried to eat or drink. His name perhaps means lit. "the Bearer" or "the Sufferer," by dissimilation from *tal-talos, a reduplication of PIE base *tel-, *tol- "to bear, carry, support" (see extol). His story was known to Chaucer (c.1369).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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