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  1. ravishing love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Extremely attractive; entrancing.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Ecstatic delight; mental transport.
  2. Snatching; taking by violence; of or pertaining to ravishment.
  3. Exciting rapture or ecstasy: adapted to enchant; exquisitely lovely; enrapturing.
  4. Moving furiously along; hurrying.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Extremely beautiful
  2. v. present participle of ravish.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Rapturous; transporting.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. stunningly beautiful

Examples

  • “I love the word ravishing - and I think it really fits the spirit of what I'm trying to get at.”

    In Praise of Degradation

  • “In his house, my son, my own son, the flower of the House of Lancaster, learns to speak of the usurper with respect, to admire the so-called ravishing beauty of his hastily married wife, the commoner Elizabeth, and to pray for an heir for their accursed house.”

    Simon & Schuster: The Red Queen

  • ““I like the idea of ravishing you in the firelight.””

    Simon & Schuster: Magnolia Moon

  • “Your nose is bridged in that so-called ravishing way in order to let a stream of air into your lungs.”

    Sacrifice

  • “She's what you might call ravishing," proclaimed Ruby.”

    The Rose in the Ring

  • “Then he told me that he had arrived in the Valley on the noon of the day before, had found it grand and beautiful beyond all his dreams, -- 'ravishing' was one of his words, -- and was going out again, not of necessity but from choice, that very afternoon.”

    On Foot in the Yosemite

  • “Vigée-Lebrun's "ravishing" portrait of herself and her little girl, with how can I say what foretaste (as determined by that instant as if the hour had struck from a clock) of all the fun, confusedly speaking, that one was going to have, and the kind of life, always of the queer so-called inward sort, tremendously "sporting" in its way -- though that description didn't then wait upon it, that one was going to lead.”

    A Small Boy and Others

  • “She had thought seriously of surprising and delighting everyone by appearing in a costume which should do justice to the loveliness which was so modest that it was apt to forget itself in admiring others – what girls call a "ravishing" dress, such as she could imagine and easily procure by the magic of the Fortunatus 'purse in her pocket.”

    Rose in Bloom

  • “She had thought seriously of surprising and delighting everyone by appearing in a costume which should do justice to the loveliness which was so modest that it was apt to forget itself in admiring others what girls call a "ravishing" dress, such as she could imagine and easily procure by the magic of the Fortunatus 'purse in her pocket.”

    Rose In Bloom

  • “Best known for its innovative and award-winning exhibitions, which have been described by Roberta Smith in The New York Times as "ravishing," the museum has a collection of more than 50,000 garments and accessories dating from the 18th century to the present.”

    PRWeb

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘ravishing’.

Comments

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  • jeffazi stunningly beautiful.
    Oct 30, 2007

  • reesetee The problem is that we have to work for a living when we could be reading. ;-) Jul 18, 2007

  • uselessness I did when I was a kid... I wish I could get that habit back now that I'm grown up... *sigh* Jul 18, 2007

  • reesetee We definitely had books around by that publisher, but I don't remember being especially drawn to those volumes in particular. Basically, I read everything I could get my hands on--sounds as though you did too. :-) Jul 18, 2007

  • uselessness Were you a Childcraft fan too? Jul 18, 2007

  • reesetee You know, u, that story is starting to sound a mite familiar.... Jul 18, 2007

  • arby Whoa. Heavy! Jul 17, 2007

  • uselessness The really crazy thing was that the two spaceships were actually the same ship, merging against itself after traveling through a time warp. I think I forgot to mention that part. Jul 17, 2007

  • arby How the hell did two spaceships merge? That still sounds ominous to me!

    And yes, I am scared of merging traffic too. Jul 17, 2007

  • slumry Merging into freeway traffic still feels a bit too powerful to me...That murdering traffic.

    I love ravishing/ravaging. "She was a ravaging beauty."

    What did I do without Wordie! Jul 10, 2007

  • uselessness No, the story was in one of those Childcraft books World Book publishes. Sort of a silly quasi-educational sci-fi thing. Jul 10, 2007

  • reesetee Haha! I did too, u. I suspect it's one of those poor words that has suffered from overexposure in recent years, so maybe it doesn't sound so powerful anymore. Or maybe we've just grown old(er).

    Were you the author of the story about the spaceships merging? Jul 10, 2007

  • uselessness I used to think merge was a powerful and dramatic word. I remember reading a story aloud to my mom many years ago that involved two spaceships merging.

    Mom: "They merged?"
    Me (tense): "Uh huh. The spaceships MERGED."
    Mom: "Okay..."

    Funny the inane childhood things we remember.

    Also, I've been known to confuse ravishing with ravaging. Jul 10, 2007

  • reesetee Yes, but what a delightful mistake proto-slumry made! Perhaps you were both. :-)

    Reminds me of when I was a kid taking a road trip w/ my parents and countless siblings. I spotted a traffic sign that horrified me. "Dad," I warned, "We need to take a different road! That sign says there's murdering traffic ahead!"

    Of course, it was *merging* traffic...but sometimes that's just as scary. ;-) Jul 10, 2007

  • slumry Young child slumry (who was not yet slumry, of course) came in for supper. She had been playing all afternoon and announced to her father "I am ravishing." Of course she meant ravenous. Oops. Jul 10, 2007

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‘ravishing’ has been looked up 2237 times, loved by 6 people, added to 32 lists, commented on 15 times, and has a Scrabble score of 16.