captivate

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To make (a person, an animal, etc.) a captive; to take prisoner; to capture, to subdue.
  2. To capture or control (the mind, etc.); to subdue, to subjugate.
  3. To attract and hold (someone's) attention and interest; to charm, to entrance, to fascinate, to enchain.
adj
  1. Made captive; taken prisoner; captured, subdued.

Pronunciation

/ˈkæptɪveɪt/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-captivate.wav /ˈkæptəˌveɪt/ /ˈkæptɪvət/ /ˈkæptəˌvət/

Word forms

captivate captivates captivating captivated no-table-tags glossary captivatest captivatedst captivateth more captivate most captivate

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin captīvātus, the perfect passive participle of captīvō (“to capture”), from Latin captīvus (“captive, prisoner”) (ultimately from capiō (“to capture, seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to hold; to seize”)) + -ō (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs). Equivalent to captive + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

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