intriguing
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
Intriguing things or people arouse curiosity and have an indescribable draw. If you find the night sky intriguing and enjoy pondering the limitlessness of the universe, you should consider becoming an astronomer. When this adjective was first recorded in the 1600’s, anything intriguing had something to do with “tricking, deceiving, or cheating.” It wasn't until much later that intriguing lost its sinister sense and became simply a word to describe something with alluring mystery. Synonyms for intriguing run the gamut from captivating and delightful to riveting and titillating.
Vocabulary lists containing intriguing
Walk Two Moons
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12 More Interesting Ways to Say "interesting"
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Pay Attention! Synonyms for "Interesting"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But the reason it’s really intriguing is buried between the lines, nestled in a place I’m not sure even Sánchez Bezos can see.
From Salon • May 6, 2026
“I read ‘sound bath, poetry and manifesting,’ which sounded intriguing, so I said, ‘Why not?’
From Los Angeles Times • May 4, 2026
Meta has an intriguing new AI model called Muse Spark, but Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein wrote that it may have trouble competing against other models like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Grok.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 30, 2026
This intriguing setup makes for a promising start.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
I suppose all our Butt Room stories about him intriguing around the world had made me half-ready to half-believe something like this.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
