Meaning of intrigue in English

Table of contents

Verb
intrigue
Etymology
early 17th century (in the sense ‘deceive, cheat’): from French intrigue‘plot’, intriguer‘to tangle, to plot’, via Italian from Latin intricare (see intricate). intrigue (sense 1 of the verb), which was influenced by a later French sense ‘to puzzle, make curious’, arose in the late 19th century
Definitions
1. cause to be interested or curious
Derived terms
- captivation
- fascination
2. form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner
Derived terms
Noun
intrigue
Definitions
1. a crafty and involved plot to achieve your (usually sinister) ends
Derived terms
2. a clandestine love affair

Famous quotes

« I never really did sports growing up. Maybe that's why they intrigue me. The technology that goes into that clothing is steps ahead, so it's always been something I look towards. »
Alexander Wang
« More than any other setting - more than battlefields or boardrooms or a spaceship headed for intergalactic travel - I'll put my money on the family to provide an endless source of comedy, tragedy and intrigue. »
Joyce Maynard
« My favorite subject probably was math. I love math. Figures just intrigue me. I was really good at math. English probably was my worst subject. But I used to write a lot of poetry. I used to write poetry all the time. »
Herschel Walker
« Society bristles with enigmas which look hard to solve. It is a perfect maze of intrigue. »
Honore de Balzac
« There's a lot of thought in art. People get to talk about important things. There's a lot of sex, you know, in art. There's a lot of naked women and men, and there's intrigue, there's fakery. It's a real microcosm of the larger world. »
Steve Martin