riveting
Britishadjective
Explanation
A rivet is a fastener that holds something closed or down, and something riveting keeps you glued to your seat and grabs your attention. Sometimes a movie is so riveting that not even free popcorn refills can lure you away. Riveting is an adjective for things that really draw you in, like a book you read in one sitting or a song you turn up so you can hear every lyric. Beautiful scenes are riveting, but terrible and ugly things are also riveting, like the site of an accident you can't stop looking at. Words from a teacher or actor have a riveting effect when they're full of impact and interest, and when you exaggerate a story for your best friend, that's riveting too.
Vocabulary lists containing riveting
100 SAT words Beginning with "R"
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Front Desk
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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.
Yes, the most riveting thing about director Thomas Kail’s live-action “Moana” is watching painted cloth dry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
These accounts collide with the present era’s eerie uncertainty at every turn, making for an altogether riveting, cyclical listening experience that tells her life’s story without smoothing its contradictions.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Ms. Ferrante never loses control of the riveting narrative, which takes on elements of both horror and romance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
The campaign was riveting and Hampden was rocking like rarely before.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
“What we really need is something so riveting that even President Snow won’t be able to tear himself away. Got anything like that?” asks Haymitch.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
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.
