Classical Mythology. a Phrygian king who was condemned to remain in Tartarus, chin deep in water, with fruit-laden branches hanging above his head: whenever he tried to drink or eat, the water and fruit receded out of reach.
(lowercase) a stand or rack containing visible decanters, especially of wines or liquors, secured by a lock.
Something is “tantalizing” if it is desirable but unattainable.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Of course, “tantalizing” comes from Tantalus, the Greek mythological figure doomed to spend eternity with satisfaction just out of reach.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 17, 2023
Tantalus stands in a pool of water that flees when he stoops for a drink, and he takes shade under trees whose fruits shy away when he tries to grab a bite.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 14, 2019
Like the mythological fruit of Tantalus, always just out of reach, its essence eludes us, too awful to fully comprehend no matter how passionately we seek to know and understand it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 6, 2018
Caught in a reverse telling of Tantalus, reaching for but never willing to pluck fruit from a bountiful tree, the businessman wasn’t alone in scoffing at Dubai’s future expansion.
From The Guardian ● May 16, 2016
He remembered the punishment of Tantalus, who’d been permanently stuck in a pool of water under a fruit tree but couldn’t reach either food or drink.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
The latest bottle to be sold came in a specially-commissioned cabinet, or tantalus.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2018
He was raised comfortably in London, great-grandson of a Dutch-descended Englishman who grew rich on inventions such as the tantalus, a contrivance to keep Victorian housemaids out of the port.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Good show, Holmes," said I, reaching for the tantalus and the gasogene.
From Time Magazine Archive
Such a tantalus of riches required special handling, and the consortium sought the services of Bailey.
From Time Magazine Archive
On the table, beside the lamp, was a tantalus and a glass, and a half empty syphon.
From The Motor Pirate by Paternoster, G. Sidney
Nietzsche, speaking of the artists of our time, laughs at "those Tantaluses of the will, rebels and enemies of laws, who come, broken in spirit, and fall at the foot of the cross of Christ."
From Musicians of To-Day by Blaiklock, Mary
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.
