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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
captivate
verb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ I was captivated by her smile.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He comes across in large, energetic, engulfing, captivating waves, at once friendly and disturbing.
▪ He heard Rapunzel singing from her room and became captivated.
▪ I am disoriented, but captivated.
▪ It is the promise of improvement that makes golf captivating.
▪ They were captivated by the beautiful village, played croquet on the lawn and altogether had a delightful time.
▪ Wells was captivated by the wave of optimism engendered by the great age of heroic invention at the turn of the century.
▪ Yet the idea of a post-apocalyptic city captivates the contemporary mind and its images continue to proliferate.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Captivate

Captivate \Cap"ti*vate\, p. a. [L. captivatus.] Taken prisoner; made captive; insnared; charmed.

Women have been captivate ere now.
--Shak.

Captivate

Captivate \Cap"ti*vate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Captivated; p. pr. & vb. n. Captivating.] [L. captivatus, p. p. of captivare to capture, fr. captivus captive. See Captive.]

  1. To take prisoner; to capture; to subdue. [Obs.]

    Their woes whom fortune captivates.
    --Shak.

  2. To acquire ascendancy over by reason of some art or attraction; to fascinate; to charm; as, Cleopatra captivated Antony; the orator captivated all hearts.

    Small landscapes of captivating loveliness.
    --W. Irving.

    Syn: To enslave; subdue; overpower; charm; enchant; bewitch; facinate; capture; lead captive.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
captivate

1520s, "to enthrall with charm," from Late Latin captivatus, past participle of captivare "to take, capture," from captivus (see captive). Literal sense (1550s) is rare or obsolete in English, which uses capture (q.v.). Latin captare "to take, hold" also had a transferred sense of "to entice, entrap, allure." Related: Captivated; captivating; captivatingly.

Wiktionary
captivate

vb. To attract and hold interest and attention of; charm.

WordNet
captivate

v. attract; cause to be enamored; "She captured all the men's hearts" [syn: capture, enamour, trance, catch, becharm, enamor, beguile, charm, fascinate, bewitch, entrance, enchant]

Usage examples of "captivate".

I was captivated by all the mysteries, anomalies, anachronisms and puzzles, and wanted to learn as much about them as I could.

What is so captivating and popular as a book of essays which gathers together and arranges a lot of facts out of histories and cyclopaedias, set forth in the form of conversations that any one could have taken part in?

Francis Denbigh, the eldest son of the general, was naturally diffident, and, in addition, it was his misfortune to be the reverse of captivating in external appearance.

It is astonishing with what dexterity Guy Flouncey could extricate himself from the jaws of a friend, who, captivated by his thoughtless candour and ostentatiously good heart, might be induced to request Mr.

Besides, he is appointed of the escort to bring the captivated Frenchers and Indians home to the province jail.

Krubi was captivated, and when the seal was finished and awkwardly ambled on its flappers round and back to the water for the purpose of diving and playing, Krubi went out knee-deep in the tumbling waves and watched.

Sara had a bracelet, and Louey came running into the room with an apronful of the most captivating picture-books in the most gorgeous of bindings, to kiss her father over and over again, and to assure him that Father Christmas had given her what she liked better than anything she could have chosen for herself.

Experience had taught her to be suspicious only of those men who ignored the captivating charms that Mata had built into her unconscious moods.

Plasencia to Oropesa, and from there to Talavera, he had been captivated by the charm, the easy laughter, and the honesty with which she planned a future away from a cloying past and a fugitive husband.

Kara captivated the audience with a series of illusions and sleight-of-hand tricks based on a few of the poems in the book.

For like his daughter, Trisha, the Island of Maui, too, captivated him.

The engaging frankness with which he made this declaration really had a disinterested appearance and captivated my guardian, if not, for the moment, Ada too.

A singer from Venice, called Guadani, handsome, a thorough musician, and very witty, contrived to captivate her affections three weeks after my quarrel with her.

He was soon so accustomed to his new life in peaceful Ajaccio, whose surroundings, decked in eternal verdure, are so captivating and so beautiful, that in spite of a vague desire for change he now dreaded to leave it.

I need not say that, with such a good letter of introduction, the unknown at once captivated my warmest interest.