beguiling
Americanadjective
adjective
-
charming or fascinating
-
using slyness to delude someone
Other Word Forms
- beguilingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of beguiling
First recorded in 1575–1600; beguil(e) ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. )
Explanation
Beguiling is an adjective that means "highly attractive and tempting," like the beguiling model/actress on the cover of a celebrity magazine. Beguiling is often used to describe a person, like a beautiful girl, but can also be used when referring to a place or an inanimate object, like an Italian sports car. But be careful — sometimes beguiling things are meant to trick you, like the beguiling salesperson who acts like a friend, only to make a sale. In fact, beguiling contains the word guile, meaning "deceit, fraud, ruse, trickery."
Vocabulary lists containing beguiling
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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.
Mr. Newens has written a beguiling, lively and offbeat gastronomic tour of Paris.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
Together, the roof and the tower give the chapel a beguiling silhouette that can suggest anything from a giant pictograph to an abstract sculpture.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
“They’re beguiling, social and bold,” she says of the animals.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 10, 2026
It includes this beguiling take on Winter Wonderland, originally written in 1934, and covered more than 200 times.
From BBC • Dec. 6, 2025
Low she sang in her beguiling voice, while on her loom she wove ambrosial fabric sheer and bright, by that craft known to the goddesses of heaven.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
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.
