entertain

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Here are four titles sure to educate and entertain, which is always the best lesson to receive.

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Definitions (27)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. transitive verb To hold the attention of with something amusing or diverting. See Synonyms at amuse.
  2. transitive verb To extend hospitality toward: entertain friends at dinner.
  3. transitive verb To consider; contemplate: entertain an idea.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (12)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Runways are made to entertain, and a recent Madrid show did so with panache. —  TREND HUNTER - The Latest Trends
  • If you are writing to entertain, then keep it light and fun, and don't lecture. —  WebProNews Feed
  • It may be that in schools where children don't dismantle the furniture if a teacher talks at them for two hours there is less pressure to entertain, and didactic styles of instruction are more prevalent. —  Blogposts | guardian.co.uk
  • Can they analyze the messages that inform, entertain, and sell to us everyday? —  NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Podcast | PBS
  • This is likely to be deemed one of those Super Bowl years when the action on the field surpassed the best efforts of Madison Avenue to excite, entertain, amaze and amuse. —  The Fifth Down
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

entertain:   entertaining ·  entertained ·  entertains
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English entertinen, to maintain, from Old French entretenir, from Medieval Latin intertenēre : Latin inter, among; see inter- + Latin tenēre, to hold; see ten- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Formerly also intertain; from Old French entretenir, French entretenir = Provencal entretenir = Spanish entretener = Portuguese entreter = Italian intertenere, intrattenere, from Middle Latin intertenere, entertain, from Latin inter, among, + tenere, hold: see tenant, and cf. contain, detain, pertain, etc. Cf. also Dutch onderhouden (= German unterhalten = Danish underholde = Swedish underhålla), entertain, from onder, etc., = English under, + houden, etc., = English hold.
  2. from entertain, v.
 

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/ɛntərˈteɪn/
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