tempt
Americanverb (used with object)
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to entice or allure to do something often regarded as unwise, wrong, or immoral.
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to attract, appeal strongly to, or invite.
The offer tempts me.
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to render strongly disposed to do something.
The book tempted me to read more on the subject.
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to put (someone) to the test in a venturesome way; provoke.
to tempt one's fate.
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Obsolete. to try or test.
verb
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to attempt to persuade or entice to do something, esp something morally wrong or unwise
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to allure, invite, or attract
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to give rise to a desire in (someone) to do something; dispose
their unfriendliness tempted me to leave the party
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to risk provoking (esp in the phrase tempt fate )
Related Words
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.
Other Word Forms
- pretempt verb (used with object)
- self-tempted adjective
- supertempt verb (used with object)
- temptable adjective
- tempter noun
- untemptable adjective
- untempted adjective
Etymology
Origin of tempt
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English from Latin temptāre “to probe, feel, test, tempt”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Governments will be tempted by ham-handed policy responses.
It isn’t—and it’s tempting to add: Praise be!
By making her tóshchíín, he hoped she might be tempted to eat and regain her strength.
From Literature
And while Clare was tempted to let her continue, just to see what absurd finish she had planned for this charade, time was of the essence.
From Literature
Wigler noted that the promise of hitting goals fast with AI tempts tech start-up teams already prone to long workdays to lose track of time and stay on the job even deeper into the night.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
