Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A secret or underhand scheme; a plot.
  • noun The practice of or involvement in such schemes.
  • noun A clandestine love affair.
  • intransitive verb To arouse the interest or curiosity of.
  • intransitive verb To effect or cause to be accepted or rejected by secret scheming or plotting.
  • intransitive verb To engage in secret or underhand schemes; plot.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Intricacy; complication; maze.
  • noun Secret or underhand plotting or scheming; the exertion of secret influence for the accomplishment of a purpose.
  • noun A clandestine plot; a scheme for entangling others, or for gaining an end by the exertion of secret influence: as, to expose an intrigue.
  • noun The plot of a play, poem, or romance; the series of complications in which a writer involves his imaginary characters.
  • noun Clandestine intercourse between a man and a woman; illicit intimacy; a liaison.
  • To entangle; involve; cause to be involved or entangled.
  • To plot for: scheme for.
  • To practise underhand plotting or scheming; exert secret influence for the accomplishment of a purpose; seek to promote one's aims in devious and clandestine ways.
  • To have clandestine or illicit intercourse.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To form a plot or scheme; to contrive to accomplish a purpose by secret artifice.
  • intransitive verb To carry on a secret and illicit love or amour.
  • noun obsolete Intricacy; complication.
  • noun A complicated plot or scheme intended to effect some purpose by secret artifice; conspiracy; stratagem.
  • noun The plot of a play or romance; a complicated scheme of designs, actions, and events.
  • noun A secret and illicit love affair between two persons of different sexes; an amour; a liaison.
  • transitive verb obsolete To fill with artifice and duplicity; to complicate; to embarrass.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A complicated or clandestine plot or scheme intended to effect some purpose by secret artifice; conspiracy; stratagem.
  • noun The plot of a play, poem or romance; the series of complications in which a writer involves their imaginary characters.
  • noun Clandestine intercourse between persons; illicit intimacy; a liaison.
  • verb intransitive To conceive or carry out a secret plan intended to harm; to form a plot or scheme.
  • verb transitive To arouse the interest of; to fascinate.
  • verb intransitive To have clandestine or illicit intercourse.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner
  • noun a crafty and involved plot to achieve your (usually sinister) ends
  • noun a clandestine love affair
  • verb cause to be interested or curious

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From French intriguer, to plot, from Italian intrigare, to plot, from Latin intrīcāre, to entangle; see intricate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French, from Italian intricare, from Latin intrico ("to entangle, perplex, embarrass").

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Examples

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  • The wife had discovered that the husband was carrying on an intrigue with a French girl, who had been a governess in their family, and she had announced to her husband that she could not go on living in the same house with him.

    September 13, 2007

  • See narratively comments.

    March 25, 2012

  • . A secret or underhand scheme; a plot.

    n. The practice of or involvement in such schemes.

    n. A clandestine love affair.

    v. To engage in secret or underhand schemes; plot.

    v. To effect by secret scheming or plotting.

    v. To arouse the interest or curiosity of: Hibernation has long intrigued biologists

    August 31, 2013