intrigue
See also: intrigué
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from French intrigue, from Italian intricare, from Latin intrīcō (“I entangle, perplex, embarrass”). Doublet of intricate.
Pronunciation edit
- (noun) enPR: ĭn'trēg, IPA(key): /ˈɪntɹiːɡ/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (verb) enPR: ĭntrēg', IPA(key): /ɪnˈtɹiːɡ/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- Rhymes: -iːɡ
Noun edit
intrigue (countable and uncountable, plural intrigues)
- A complicated or clandestine plot or scheme intended to effect some purpose by secret artifice; conspiracy; stratagem.
- 1858–1865, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:
- […] lost in such a jungle of intrigues, pettifoggings, treacheries, diplomacies domestic and foreign […]
- The plot of a play, poem or romance; the series of complications in which a writer involves their imaginary characters.
- Clandestine intercourse between persons; illicit intimacy; a liaison or affair.
- 1773, The Westminster Magazine, Or, The Pantheon of Taste:
- I often used to smile at a young Ensign of the Guards, who always popped [pawned] his sword and watch when he wanted cash for an intrigue; […]
- 1976, John Harold Wilson, Court Satires of the Restoration, page 245:
- In 1679 and 1680 there were persistent rumors of an intrigue between Mary, Lady Grey, and the Duke of Monmouth.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
plot or scheme
|
the plot of a play
Verb edit
intrigue (third-person singular simple present intrigues, present participle intriguing, simple past and past participle intrigued)
- (intransitive) To conceive or carry out a secret plan intended to harm; to form a plot or scheme.
- (transitive) To arouse the interest of; to fascinate.
- 1954, Wallace Stegner, Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West, Houghton Mifflin, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 170:
- Scenic illusions such as those caused by the haze, or the apparent diminution of scale where everything was enormous, intrigued Dutton.
- 2012 March, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 February 2013, page 106:
- These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story. And, on top of all that, they are ornaments; they entice and intrigue and sometimes delight.
- (intransitive) To have clandestine or illicit intercourse.
- (transitive) To fill with artifice and duplicity; to complicate.
- 1533 (date written), Thomas More, “The Debellacyon of Salem and Bizance […]. Chapter XVIJ.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published April 1557, →OCLC, page 1004, column 2:
- And as wililye as thoſe ſhrewes that beguyle hym haue holpe hym to inuolue and intryke the matter: I ſhall vſe ſo playn and open a way therin, that euery man ſhall well ſee the trouth.
- c. 1681, John Scott, The Christian Life from Its Beginning to Its Consummation in Glory […]:
- How doth it [sin] perplex and intrigue the whole course of your lives!
Translations edit
to plan
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to arouse interest
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Related terms edit
References edit
- “intrigue”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “intrigue”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
French edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
Noun edit
intrigue f (plural intrigues)
- intrigue (all senses)
Descendants edit
- → English: intrigue
Etymology 2 edit
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb edit
intrigue
- inflection of intriguer:
Further reading edit
- “intrigue”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Portuguese edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
intrigue
- inflection of intrigar:
Spanish edit
Verb edit
intrigue
- inflection of intrigar: