- present participle of entertain.
entertaining
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of entertaining
Explanation
Things that are entertaining are enjoyable and distracting. Going to the circus is an entertaining way to spend an afternoon. Activities like playing games and watching movies can be entertaining, and you can also describe a friend who's particularly funny or fun to be with as entertaining. The adjective comes from the related verb, entertain, which meant "keep up, maintain, or keep someone in a certain frame of mind" in the fifteenth century. It comes from the Old French entretenir, "hold together."
Vocabulary lists containing entertaining
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.
Entertaining down to the last minute, the Bastille Opera finally opened its season with a sad-faced functionary who stepped in front of the curtain to tell us that the “Simone Boccanegra” baritone was indisposed.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026
Entertaining audiences for over 70 years has been a privilege.
From BBC • Dec. 29, 2023
A chef known for his Italian-inspired Californian restaurants who won an Emmy Award for best host for “Easy Entertaining With Michael Chiarello” and appeared on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and “Top Chef Masters.”
From Seattle Times • Dec. 3, 2023
Michael Chiarello, the celebrity chef best known for hosting his Food Network show “Easy Entertaining With Michael Chiarello,” died Friday at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa.
From Salon • Oct. 10, 2023
Daily Telegraph— "Entertaining and readable, partaking more of the nature of stories of adventure than of the conventional detective kind, but in each case containing a genuine mystery and an ingenious elucidation of the same."
From A Woman's Burden by Hume, Fergus
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.
