TEMPT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tempt mean? 

• TEMPT (verb)
  The verb TEMPT has 6 senses:

1. dispose or incline or entice to

2. provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion

3. give rise to a desire by being attractive or inviting

4. induce into action by using one's charm

5. try to seduce

6. try presumptuously

  Familiarity information: TEMPT used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TEMPT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they tempt    ... he / she / it tempts   
Past simple: tempted   
Past participle: tempted   
-ing form: tempting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Dispose or incline or entice to

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

allure; tempt

Context example:

We were tempted by the delicious-looking food

Hypernyms (to "tempt" is one way to...):

bid; invite (ask someone in a friendly way to do something)

"Tempt" entails doing...:

appeal; attract (be attractive to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They tempt him to write the letter

Derivation:

temptable (susceptible to temptation)

temptation (the desire to have or do something that you know you should avoid)

tempter (a person who tempts others)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

entice; lure; tempt

Context example:

He lured me into temptation

Hypernyms (to "tempt" is one way to...):

provoke; stimulate (provide the needed stimulus for)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tempt"):

hook; snare (entice and trap)

seduce (lure or entice away from duty, principles, or proper conduct)

call (lure by imitating the characteristic call of an animal)

stool (lure with a stool, as of wild fowl)

lead on (entice or induce especially when unwise or mistaken)

tweedle (entice through the use of music)

decoy (lure or entrap with or as if with a decoy)

bait (lure, entice, or entrap with bait)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody into V-ing something

Derivation:

temptable (susceptible to temptation)

temptation (the act of influencing by exciting hope or desire)

tempter (a person who tempts others)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Give rise to a desire by being attractive or inviting

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

invite; tempt

Context example:

the window displays tempted the shoppers

Hypernyms (to "tempt" is one way to...):

excite; shake; shake up; stimulate; stir (stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

temptable (susceptible to temptation)

temptation (something that seduces or has the quality to seduce)

tempter (a person who tempts others)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Induce into action by using one's charm

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

charm; influence; tempt

Context example:

She charmed him into giving her all his money

Hypernyms (to "tempt" is one way to...):

persuade (cause somebody to adopt a certain position, belief, or course of action; twist somebody's arm)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tempt"):

bewitch; magnetise; magnetize; mesmerise; mesmerize; spellbind (attract strongly, as if with a magnet)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody into V-ing something

Sentence example:

They tempt him to write the letter

Derivation:

temptable (susceptible to temptation)

temptation (the act of influencing by exciting hope or desire)

tempter (a person who tempts others)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Try to seduce

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "tempt" is one way to...):

arouse; excite; sex; turn on; wind up (stimulate sexually)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

temptable (susceptible to temptation)

tempter (a person who tempts others)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Try presumptuously

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

St. Anthony was tempted in the desert

Hypernyms (to "tempt" is one way to...):

persuade (cause somebody to adopt a certain position, belief, or course of action; twist somebody's arm)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

temptable (susceptible to temptation)

tempter (a person who tempts others)

 Context examples 

I was tempted by his attentions, and allowed myself to appear pleased.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

During this weekend, stay cool, and don’t tempt fate.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

How much could it not tempt her to forgive!

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

In a review of the two houses, as they appeared to her before the end of a week, Fanny was tempted to apply to them Dr.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Money is a good and useful thing, Jo, and I hope my girls will never feel the need of it too bitterly, nor be tempted by too much.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

For one daughter, his eldest, he would really have given up any thing, which he had not been very much tempted to do.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I could not imagine why Dora had been making tempting little faces at me, as if she wanted to kiss me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

We know how little there is to tempt anyone to our humble abode.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Think twice before you reach for that tempting treat.

(Can Chocolate Really Be Good for You?, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

It was unlikely that the doctor should fear death; and yet that was what Utterson was tempted to suspect.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)