captivate

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪt

Verb

captivate (third-person singular simple present captivates, present participle captivating, simple past and past participle captivated)

1. To attract and hold interest and attention of; charm.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 3, The Mirror and the Lamp:

     One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.

Translations

to attract and hold interest and attention of

• Arabic: أسر (ar) (ʾásara)
• Bulgarian: очаровам (bg) (očarovam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 著迷 (cmn), 着迷 (cmn) (zháomí)

• Dutch: vangen (nl)
• Finnish: kiehtoa (fi)
• French: captiver (fr)

• German: bestechen (de)
• Japanese: 惹き付ける (ja) (ひきつける, hikitsukeru)
• Russian: очаровывать (ru) (očaróvyvat’) impf., очаровать (ru) (očarovát’) pf., пленять (ru) (plenját’) impf., пленить (ru) (plenít’) pf.
• Scottish Gaelic: beò-ghlac (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian: očárati (sh)

Anagrams

• captative

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Latin

Verb

captīvāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of captīvō