captivating
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of captivating
First recorded in 1670–80; captivat(e) ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. )
Explanation
The adjective captivating describes something that's completely enthralling and holds your attention. You might find a marathon of episodes of a TV show so captivating that you forget to eat dinner. When people are captivating, they're often very intelligent, attractive, charming, or otherwise fascinating. Something that catches and holds your interest is captivating, like a captivating mystery novel you just can't put down. In fact, this adjective comes from the Latin captivatus, "to take or capture," and early in its use, captivating had that literal meaning. Now it's only used to mean capturing interest.
Vocabulary lists containing captivating
A Doll's House
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Pay Attention! Synonyms for "Interesting"
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The Tale of Despereaux
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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.
Norway’s Erling Haaland and Cape Verde’s Vozinha were captivating while Egypt and Canada both won World Cup games for the first time, advancing to the round of 16.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
He’s the most captivating element of the picture and I wished there’d been more of him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
Swiss great Roger Federer, watching from the Royal Box, was among the thousands inside Wimbledon's centre stage living each point of a captivating conclusion.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
It made for a captivating, see-sawing tournament opener that went down to the wire.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Madame coquetted with him in the most captivating and naive manner, with eyes, gestures, and a profusion of compliments, till the Colonel’s old head felt thirty years younger on his padded shoulders.
From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
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.
