intrigue
/ˈɪntɹiːɡ/
intrigue noun: a complicated or clandestine plot or scheme intended to affect some purpose by secret artifice; conspiracy; stratagem; the practice of engaging in hidden schemes.
Noun
intrigue (countable and uncountable, plural intrigues)
- A complicated or clandestine plot or scheme intended to affect some purpose by secret artifice; conspiracy; stratagem; the practice of engaging in hidden schemes.
- His betrayal was the beginning of a complex intrigue intended to give him control of the company.
- […] lost in such a jungle of intrigues, pettifoggings, treacheries, diplomacies domestic and foreign […]1858–1865, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- machination
- Clandestine intercourse between persons; illicit intimacy; a liaison or affair.
- I suspect Suzanne and her mysterious friend of being involved in an intrigue.
- I often used to smile at a young Ensign of the Guards, who always popped [pawned] his sword and watch when he wanted cash for an intrigue; […]1773, The Westminster Magazine, Or, The Pantheon of Taste
- The plot of a play, poem or romance; the series of complications in which a writer involves their imaginary characters.
- The story's intrigue was boring and reminiscent of a thousand better movies.
- A desire to understand something; interest or fascination.
- Your idea has aroused my intrigue.
Verb
intrigue (third-person singular simple present intrigues, present participle intriguing, simple past and past participle intrigued)
- To conceive or carry out a secret plan intended to harm; to form a plot or scheme.
- To arouse the interest of; to fascinate.
- Scenic illusions such as those caused by the haze, or the apparent diminution of scale where everything was enormous, intrigued Dutton.1954, Wallace Stegner, Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West, Houghton Mifflin, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 170
- These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story. And, on top of all that, they are ornaments; they entice and intrigue and sometimes delight.2012 March, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2013, page 106
- To have clandestine or illicit intercourse.
- To fill with artifice and duplicity; to complicate.
- And as wililye as thoſe ſhrewes that beguyle hym haue holpe hym to inuolue and intryke the matter: I ſhall vſe ſo playn and open a way therin, that euery man ſhall well ſee the trouth.1533 (date written), Thomas More, “The Debellacyon of Salem and Bizance […]. Chapter XVIJ.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […]...
- How doth it [sin] perplex and intrigue the whole course of your lives!c. 1681, John Scott, The Christian Life from Its Beginning to Its Consummation in Glory […]
intrigue meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
intrigue in Hindi
- plot or scheme
- साज़िश sāziś, षड्यंत्र ṣaḍyantra
intrigue in Tamil
- உட்கிளர்ச்சி, உட்சதி, உட்சூழ்ச்சி, கபடச் செயல், சூழ்ச்சி செய், கள்ளக்காதல்
intrigue in Urdu
- فساد, فطرت, جوڑ توڑ, کاٹ پھانس, لاگ, ساز باز
intrigue in Bengali
- intrigue; plot; care; ruse; stratagem; deception
- ফিকির phikir
More languagesFewer languages
- intrigue in Malayalam
- ഉപജാപം, കഥായുക്തി, രഹസ്യപദ്ധതി, ഇതിവൃത്തം
- intrigue in Kannada
- ಸಂಚು, ಒಳಸಂಚು, ಪಿತೂರಿ, ಕುತಂತ್ರ
- intrigue in Tagalog
- pungka
- intrigue in Arabic
- دَسِيسَة dasīsa
- intrigue in Persian
- دسیسه dasise, انتریگ antrig, فتنه fetne, شیفته کردن šifte kardan
Examples of intrigue in a sentence
- He proposed to call witnesses to show how the prisoner, a profligate and spendthrift, had been at the end of his financial tether, and had also been carrying on an intrigue with a certain Mrs.1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 152:
- In 1679 and 1680 there were persistent rumors of an intrigue between Mary, Lady Grey, and the Duke of Monmouth.1976, John Harold Wilson, Court Satires of the Restoration, page 245:
Synonyms of intrigue
Forms of intrigue
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | intrigues |
| alternative form (obsolete) | entrigue |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | intrigues |
| present participle | intriguing |
| past participle | intrigued |
| past | intrigued |
Origin of intrigue
Borrowed from French intrigue, from Italian intricare, from Latin intrīcō (“to entangle, perplex, embarrass”). Doublet of intricate.
Words formed from intrigue
Words that rhyme with intrigue
Questions about intrigue
- What does intrigue mean?
- Intrigue means a complicated or clandestine plot or scheme intended to affect some purpose by secret artifice; conspiracy; stratagem; the practice of engaging in hidden schemes.
- What is intrigue in Hindi?
- Intrigue in Hindi is साज़िश (sāziś), षड्यंत्र (ṣaḍyantra). See Intrigue meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use intrigue in a sentence?
- He proposed to call witnesses to show how the prisoner, a profligate and spendthrift, had been at the end of his financial tether, and had also been carrying on an intrigue with a certain Mrs.
- What part of speech is intrigue?
- Intrigue can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce intrigue?
- Intrigue is pronounced /ˈɪntɹiːɡ/.
- What is the plural of intrigue?
- The plural of intrigue is intrigues.
Words near intrigue in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: intrigue (page history and authors); intrigue (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intrigue (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ফিকির (Bengali) (page history and authors); intrigue (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intrigue (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-intrigue (noun).wav.
Cite this entry: “intrigue.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/intrigue. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.