captivating

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English captivate

Proto-Indo-European *-onts

Proto-Germanic *-andz

Proto-West Germanic *-andī

Old English -ende

▲

Middle English -yngeinflu.

Middle English -ynge

English -ing

English captivating

From captivate + -ing.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkæptɪveɪtɪŋ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkæptɪveɪtɪŋ/, [ˈkæptɪveɪɾɪŋ]

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈkæptɪvæɪtɪŋ/, [ˈkæptɪvæɪɾɪŋ]
• Hyphenation: cap‧tiv‧at‧ing

Adjective

captivating (comparative more captivating, superlative most captivating)

1. That captivates; fascinating.
2. Very beautiful or attractive.
   • 1819 July 31, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Rural Life in England”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number II, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 134:

     [T]he eye is delighted by a continual succession of small landscapes of captivating loveliness.

Derived terms

• captivatingly
• uncaptivating

Translations

beautiful

• Arabic: أَخَّاذ m (ʔaḵḵāḏ)
• Catalan: captivador
• Dutch: boeiend (nl), bekoorlijk (nl)
• Finnish: kiehtova (fi), mukaansatempaava
• French: captivant (fr) m, passionnant (fr) m, fascinant (fr) m, prenant (fr) m
• Hindi: चित्ताकर्षक (hi) (cittākarṣak)
• Italian: accattivante (it), affascinante (it)
• Portuguese: cativante (pt), fascinante, envolvente (pt), encantador (pt) m
• Russian: очаровательный (ru) (očarovatelʹnyj), пленительный (ru) (plenitelʹnyj)
• Spanish: arrebatador (es), cautivador (es), hechizante, embelesador, hechicero (es), captivante, cautivante (es)

Verb

captivating

1. present participle and gerund of captivate