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tempt - 4 dictionary results

tempt

  [tempt]
Use tempt in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to entice or allure to do something often regarded as unwise, wrong, or immoral.
2. to attract, appeal strongly to, or invite: The offer tempts me.
3. to render strongly disposed to do something: The book tempted me to read more on the subject.
4. to put (someone) to the test in a venturesome way; provoke: to tempt one's fate.
5. Obsolete. to try or test.
Origin:
1175–1225; ME < L temptāre to probe, feel, test, tempt

Related forms:
tempt⋅a⋅ble, adjective

Synonyms:
1. Tempt, seduce may both mean to allure or entice to something unwise or wicked. To tempt is to attract by holding out the probability of gratification or advantage, often in the direction of that which is wrong or unwise: to tempt a man with a bribe. To seduce is literally to lead astray, sometimes from that which absorbs one or demands attention, but oftener, in a moral sense, from rectitude, chastity, etc.: to seduce a person away from loyalty. 2. inveigle, induce, lure, incite, persuade.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To tempt
tempt   (těmpt)   
v.   tempt·ed, tempt·ing, tempts

v.   tr.
  1. To try to get (someone) to do wrong, especially by a promise of reward.
  2. To be inviting or attractive to: A second helping tempted me. We refused the offer even though it tempted us. See Synonyms at lure.
  3. To provoke or to risk provoking: Don't tempt fate.
  4. To cause to be strongly disposed: He was tempted to walk out.
v.   intr.
To be attractive or inviting: a meal that tempts.

[Middle English tempten, from Old French tempter, from Latin temptāre, to feel, try.]
tempt'a·ble adj., tempt'er n.
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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Tempt

Tempt\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tempted; p. pr. & vb. n. Tempting.] [OE. tempten, tenten, from OF. tempter, tenter, F. tenter, fr. L. tentare, temptare, to handle, feel, attack, to try, put to the test, urge, freq. from tendere, tentum, and tensum, to stretch. See Thin, and cf. Attempt, Tend, Taunt, Tent a pavilion, Tent to probe.]

1. To put to trial; to prove; to test; to try.

God did tempt Abraham. --Gen. xxii. 1.

Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God. --Deut. vi. 16.

2. To lead, or endeavor to lead, into evil; to entice to what is wrong; to seduce.

Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. --James i. 14.

3. To endeavor to persuade; to induce; to invite; to incite; to provoke; to instigate.

Tempt not the brave and needy to despair. --Dryden.

Nor tempt the wrath of heaven's avenging Sire. --Pope.

4. To endeavor to accomplish or reach; to attempt.

Ere leave be given to tempt the nether skies. --Dryden.

Syn: To entice; allure; attract; decoy; seduce.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : tempt
Spanish: tentar,
German: verlocken,
Japanese: ～する気にさせる
More Translations »

tempt 
c.1225, from O.Fr. tempter (12c.), from L. temptare "to feel, try out, attempt to influence, test." Tempting in the sense of "inviting" is from 1596; temptress is from 1594.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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