infatuate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to inspire or possess with a foolish or unreasoning passion, as of love.
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to affect with folly; make foolish or fatuous.
adjective
noun
verb
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to inspire or fill with foolish, shallow, or extravagant passion
-
to cause to act foolishly
adjective
noun
Usage
What does infatuate mean? To infatuate is to strongly affect someone in a way that causes them to be absorbed with an extreme passion, especially in a way that makes them foolish or unreasonable about it. Infatuate is especially used in a passive way—we usually say that a person is infatuated by someone or something, rather than saying that someone or something infatuates a person. The state of being infatuated is infatuation. This is often used to refer to the state of someone who has fallen in love with a person without really knowing them. But it can refer to any obsessive or passionate focus, such as on an activity or goal. A person who’s affected this way can be described with the adjective infatuated. The word infatuation can also refer to the object of this focus, as in Who’s that you’re staring at—your latest infatuation? Someone or something considered an infatuation can be described as infatuating—meaning it has the power to infatuate. Very rarely, infatuate can be used as an adjective meaning infatuated or as a noun meaning an infatuated person. Example: She’s usually infatuated by her crushes to the point that she can’t see their flaws.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of infatuate
1425–75; late Middle English < Latin infatuātus, past participle of infatuāre. See in- 2, fatuous, -ate 1
Explanation
Have you ever had a ridiculous crush that's made you act foolishly? That person infatuated or inspired unreasonable passion in you, causing you to become infatuated. Infatuate comes from the Latin infatuat- meaning "made foolish." When you are head-over-heels for someone, you might have a tendency to act foolish. Most commonly, you'll see the word used in the term "to be infatuated with." When you are infatuated with someone, you're so enamored that you might behave in an irrational way. Stalkers tend to be infatuated with the subjects of their stalking.
Vocabulary lists containing infatuate
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
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Love
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The Great Departure
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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.
See Examples For:
The fictional robots of cinema are useful machines with dark potential to infatuate, deceive and destroy human beings.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 27, 2017
Yet one number continues to confound and infatuate them: five.
From BusinessWeek ● Apr. 2, 2014
Tongue-tied and blushing, he sees the daughter of a millionaire shipowner and goes infatuate.
From Time Magazine Archive
Chuck Crawford, who combined the curly poll and hyperthyroid eyes of Huey Long with the minnesinging methods of "Pappy" O'Daniel, was crook and virtuoso enough to infatuate Tyler.
From Time Magazine Archive
As the immense danger he had himself summoned proved unable to betray him into one single trait of manhood, so his miraculous triumph did not infatuate him even for one moment.
From Secret Diplomatic History of The Eighteenth Century by Karl Marx
The Medea we meet here is a teenage princess of Colchis infatuated with Jason—as well as a sorceress, a priestess of Hecate and the semidivine granddaughter of the sun god Helios.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
Peña’s final take on why Mexicans are so infatuated with the Smiths?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
These people have positioned themselves as trendsetters and their followers are infatuated with them as role models.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
She began with “Maggots for Brains,” a song about being so infatuated you can’t focus when your partner is away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
Okeoma smiled shyly, and she remembered how Odenigbo teased her about his being secretly infatuated with her.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Its rollout led with “Ace Trumpets” and the infatuating “So Be It.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025
On these occasions he’d shoot me an infatuating little smile.
From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2019
Listening to a great podcast can feel like falling into conversation with a new best friend or eavesdropping on an infatuating crush.
From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2016
Shelley's charisma is here, as well as his unpredictable moods; Claire Clairmont is infatuating and infuriating in equal measure.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 1, 2013
The correspondence with which she had honoured our hero had been long broke off for the reason already advanced, namely, his dread of being exposed to her infatuating charms.
From The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by T. (Tobias) Smollett
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
