Wiktionary

attraction

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English attraccioun, from Old French attraction, from Latin attractio from past participle of attrahō (= ad + trahō), equivalent to attract +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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attraction (countable and uncountable, plural attractions)

  1. The tendency to attract.
    The Moon is held in its orbit by the attraction of the Earth's gravity.
  2. The feeling of being attracted (to something).
    I felt a strange attraction towards the place.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose. And the queerer the cure for those ailings the bigger the attraction. A place like the Right Livers' Rest was bound to draw freaks, same as molasses draws flies.
    1. (in particular) Sexual or romantic desire (especially for a specified individual, kind of person, etc).
      • 2015 January 23, John Davis, Jennifer A. Greenhill, Jason D. LaFountain, A Companion to American Art, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 255:
        Murphy struggled with his attraction to men while remaining happily married all his life, daily negotiating the challenges of living in two locations simultaneously. These doublings of desire and emotional attachment left their trace in the multiple doublings within […] the billboard painting he made to signpost the home he created with his wife Sara […]
      • 2024 October 20, Kate, A Love Unspoken, DeepMisti Publication, →ISBN, page 98:
        "I'm asexual," Yazhiisai said, the words spilling out faster than she intended. "I don't experience attraction the way most people do. I'm telling you this because I don't want there to be any surprises."
  3. (countable) An event, location, or business that has a tendency to draw interest from visitors, and in many cases, local residents.
    The new mall should be a major attraction.
    Star Tours is a very cool Disney World attraction.
  4. (chess) The sacrifice of pieces in order to expose the enemy king.
  5. (linguistics) An error in language production that incorrectly extends a feature from one word in a sentence to another, e.g. when a verb agrees with a noun other than its subject.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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From Old French attraction, from Latin attractiōnem.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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attraction f (plural attractions)

  1. attraction (all senses)

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Hungarian: attrakció

Further reading

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