tempt
Americanverb (used with object)
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to entice or allure to do something often regarded as unwise, wrong, or immoral.
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to attract, appeal strongly to, or invite.
The offer tempts me.
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to render strongly disposed to do something.
The book tempted me to read more on the subject.
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to put (someone) to the test in a venturesome way; provoke.
to tempt one's fate.
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Obsolete. to try or test.
verb
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to attempt to persuade or entice to do something, esp something morally wrong or unwise
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to allure, invite, or attract
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to give rise to a desire in (someone) to do something; dispose
their unfriendliness tempted me to leave the party
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to risk provoking (esp in the phrase tempt fate )
Related Words
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.
Other Word Forms
- pretempt verb (used with object)
- self-tempted adjective
- supertempt verb (used with object)
- temptable adjective
- tempter noun
- untemptable adjective
- untempted adjective
Etymology
Origin of tempt
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English from Latin temptāre “to probe, feel, test, tempt”
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.
Indian stocks, still at higher multiples than emerging market peers, need to fall by 20% to tempt global investors back, Budaghyan estimates.
From Barron's • Mar. 5, 2026
“I can’t see the red text notification buttons when it’s in grayscale, so it doesn’t tempt me as much,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 7, 2026
For insurance, I kept buying two for cross-country trips but began to tempt fate on my frequent Southwest shuttles to Sacramento and the Bay Area.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 3, 2026
Only a couple of compact cars sell for less than $15,000, and a robust vehicle-financing market may tempt many buyers to overextend themselves for pricier cars, with term loans creeping above five years.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 3, 2025
One of them, entitled Afloat, flapped its endpapers, drifted to the ceiling, and refused to move despite Artful Guile trying to tempt it back down with a bookmark.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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.
