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;Middle English < Latintemptāre to probe, feel, test, tempt
Related forms
tempt·a·ble, adjective
pre·tempt, verb (used with object)
self-tempt·ed, adjective
su·per·tempt, verb (used with object)
un·tempt·a·ble, adjective
un·tempt·ed, 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.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
early 13c., from O.Fr. tempter (12c.), from L. temptare "to feel, try out, attempt to influence, test." Tempting in the sense of "inviting" is from 1590s; temptress is from 1590s.