Word.ws English Dictionary

amuse

/əˈmjuːz/

amuse verb: to entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions.

Verb

amuse (third-person singular simple present amuses, present participle amusing, simple past and past participle amused)

  1. (transitive) To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions.
    • I watch these movies because they amuse me.
    • It always amuses me to hear the funny stories why people haven't got a ticket, but I never let them get in without paying.
  2. (transitive) To cause laughter or amusement; to be funny.
    • His jokes rarely fail to amuse me.
  3. (archaic, transitive) To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude.
  4. (archaic, transitive) To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder.
    • Being amused with grief, fear, and fright, he could not find the house.1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI)
    • the enemies were amused on the fires that our men made1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “(please specify the book number)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC

amuse meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

amuse in Hindi

to entertain or occupy in a pleasant manner
बहलाना bahlānā

amuse in Tamil

மகிழ்வி, கடுஞ்செயலிலிருந்து திருப்பு, வேடிக்கை காட்டு, மனக்கற்பிதங்களைத் தொட்டெழுப்பு

amuse in Marathi

to amuse
हसवणे hasavṇe

amuse in Urdu

کھیلنا, دھیان بٹانا, کھلانا, خوش کرنا, پھسلانا
More languagesFewer languages
amuse in Bengali
আনন্দ দেওয়া, বিনোদন করা
amuse in Telugu
నవ్వించు navviñcu
amuse in Malayalam
വിനോദിപ്പിക്കുക, രമിപ്പിക്കുക, ആനന്ദിപ്പിക്കുക, ചിരിപ്പിക്കുക
amuse in Kannada
ರಂಜಿಸು, ವಿನೋದಪಡಿಸು, ಉಲ್ಲಾಸಗೊಳಿಸು, ಖುಷಿನೀಡು

Examples of amuse in a sentence

  • The children were playing keepie-uppie to amuse themselves.
  • The idea amuses me: trash taking itself out is a goddamn public service.
  • Recondite adventures in the insipid, the artsome, the equine, do not amuse my servant or myself.

All 21 example sentences with amuse

Synonyms of amuse

All synonyms of amuse

Forms of amuse

third-person singular presentamuses
present participleamusing
past participleamused
pastamused

Past tense of amuse: amused

Origin of amuse

From Late Middle English *amusen (“to mutter, be astonished, gaze meditatively on”), from Old French amuser (“to stupefy, waste time, be lost in thought”), from a- + muser (“to stare stupidly at, gape, wander, waste time, loiter, think carefully about, attend to”), of uncertain and obscure origin. Cognate with Occitan musa (“idle waiting”), Italian musare (“to gape idly about”). Possibly from Old French *mus (“snout”) from Vulgar Latin *mūsa (“snout”) — compare Medieval Latin mūsum (“muzzle, snout”) –, from Proto-Germanic *mū- (“muzzle, snout”), from Proto-Indo-European *mū- (“lips, muzzle”). Compare North Frisian müs, mös (“mouth”), German Maul (“muzzle, snout”). Alternative etymology connects muser and musa with Frankish *muoza (“careful attention, leisure, idleness”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtǭ (“leave, permission”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to acquire, possess, control”). This would make it a cognate of Dutch musen (“to leisure”), Old High German *muoza (“careful attention, leisure, idleness”) and muozōn (“to be idle, have leisure or opportunity”), German Muße (“leisure”). More at empty.

Words formed from amuse

Words that rhyme with amuse

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about amuse

What does amuse mean?
Amuse means to entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions.
What is amuse in Hindi?
Amuse in Hindi is बहलाना (bahlānā). See Amuse meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is amuse?
Amuse is a verb.
How do you pronounce amuse?
Amuse is pronounced /əˈmjuːz/.
What is the past tense of amuse?
The past tense of amuse is amused.

Words near amuse in the dictionary

  1. Amurritish
  2. amurs
  3. Amursk
  4. amus
  5. amusable
  6. amuse
  7. amuse-bouche
  8. amuse-bouches
  9. amuse-gueule
  10. amuse-gueules
  11. amused

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: amuse (page history and authors); amuse (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); हसवणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); amuse (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); amuse (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); నవ్వించు (Telugu) (page history and authors); amuse (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); amuse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-amuse.wav.

Cite this entry: “amuse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/amuse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.