tempt
[tempt]
- to entice or allure to do something often regarded as unwise, wrong, or immoral.
- to attract, appeal strongly to, or invite: The offer tempts me.
- to render strongly disposed to do something: The book tempted me to read more on the subject.
- to put (someone) to the test in a venturesome way; provoke: to tempt one's fate.
- Obsolete. to try or test.
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Origin of tempt
1175–1225; Middle English < Latin temptāre to probe, feel, test, tempt
Synonyms
See more synonyms for tempt on Thesaurus.com1. Tempt, seduce may both mean to allure or entice to something unwise or wicked. To tempt is to attract by holding out the probability of gratification or advantage, often in the direction of that which is wrong or unwise: to tempt a man with a bribe. To seduce is literally to lead astray, sometimes from that which absorbs one or demands attention, but oftener, in a moral sense, from rectitude, chastity, etc.: to seduce a person away from loyalty. 2. inveigle, induce, lure, incite, persuade.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tempt
Contemporary Examples
He says certain books, and even scary Halloween horror movies, tempt people to the devil.
Small things about every day that tempt people, we wanted to find out what they were.
Michael B. Jordan: Playing a Black Superhero in 'Fantastic Four' Is a 'Huge Responsibility'Kevin Fallon
September 28, 2014
You can never know who can become a spy for the enemy if you have enough means to pressure him, to blackmail him, to tempt him.
Hoping to tempt her back into writing, her agent suggested that she and her husband collaborate on a book in his genre.
Fearful lest curiosity might tempt me to open it, I had never even looked at it in book-stores.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the ShowRobert W. Chambers
February 20, 2014
Historical Examples
And to tempt him there was this new mystery, this knowledge that he could not miss.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
That would be to tempt God: means as well as results are his.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
Magnificent was the day, indeed, and sorely did La Malne tempt us to a halt.
The Roof of FranceMatilda Betham-Edwards
It was hard to dissemble still, to tempt him to say something that would madden me!
Green MansionsW. H. Hudson
And now he just peeped in, to see if he could tempt me forth to play.
Tales And Novels, Volume 9 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
tempt
- to attempt to persuade or entice to do something, esp something morally wrong or unwise
- to allure, invite, or attract
- to give rise to a desire in (someone) to do something; disposetheir unfriendliness tempted me to leave the party
- to risk provoking (esp in the phrase tempt fate)
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French tempter, from Latin temptāre to test
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for tempt
v.
early 13c., from Old French tempter (12c.), from Latin temptare "to feel, try out, attempt to influence, test." Related: Tempted; tempting.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper