tempt
UK/tɛmpt/
tempt verb: to provoke someone to do wrong, especially by promising a reward; to entice.
Verb
tempt (third-person singular simple present tempts, present participle tempting, simple past and past participle tempted)
- To provoke someone to do wrong, especially by promising a reward; to entice.
- She tempted me to eat the apple.
- By Heav’ns, ſuch Virtues, join’d with ſuch Succeſs,
Diſtract my very Soul: Our Father’s Fortune
Wou’d almoſt tempt us to renounce his Precepts.1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2
- To attract; to allure.
- Its glossy skin tempted me.
- The next time you are trout fishing and none of your lures tempts the fish, smoke a spoon hook and cast it.2008, Popular Mechanics, How to Tempt a Fish: A Complete Guide to Fishing, page 20
- To provoke something; to court.
- It would be tempting fate.
- Synonyms:
- foment, urge, abet, actuate, goose, fuel, light a fire under, send, sting, bring about
tempt meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
tempt in Tamil
- ஆசை காட்டு, சபலத்தை தூண்டு
tempt in Urdu
- آزمانا, چاٹ دینا, ورغلانا
tempt in Bengali
- প্রলুব্ধ করা, প্ররোচিত করা, লোভ দেখানো
tempt in Telugu
- to provoke
- రెచ్చగొట్టు reccagoṭṭu
- to provoke someone to do wrong
- ప్రేరేపించు prērēpiñcu
- to attract, allure
- ఎర వేయు era vēyu
More languagesFewer languages
- tempt in Malayalam
- പ്രലോഭിപ്പിക്കുക, വശീകരിക്കുക
- tempt in Kannada
- ಸೆಳೆ, ಮರುಳುಮಾಡು, ಕೆಣಕು, ಕೆರಳಿಸು
- tempt in Nepali
- प्रलोभन गर्न
- tempt in Tagalog
- tuksuhin
- tempt in Arabic
- أَغْوَى ʔaḡwā, أَغْرَى ʔaḡrā
- tempt in Vietnamese
- xui, xúi, xúi giục
Examples of tempt in a sentence
- We were tempted with the carrot but subtly threatened with the stick.
- She was tempted to treat the whole affair as a joke.
- She was tempted to call his bluff, hardly believing that he would carry out his threat.
Synonyms of tempt
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of tempt
| third-person singular present | tempts |
|---|---|
| present participle | tempting |
| past participle | tempted |
| past | tempted |
Origin of tempt
From Middle English tempten, from Old French tempter (French: tenter), from Latin temptare, from tentare (“to handle, touch, try, test, tempt”), frequentative of tendere (“to stretch”). Displaced native English costning (“temptation”).
Words formed from tempt
- attempt
- overtempt
- retempt
- temptability
- temptable
- temptation
- tempter
- tempt fate
- temptful
- temptless
- temptly
- tempt providence
- temptress
- temptsome
- temptuous
Words that rhyme with tempt
Questions about tempt
- What does tempt mean?
- Tempt means to provoke someone to do wrong, especially by promising a reward; to entice.
- What is tempt in Tamil?
- Tempt in Tamil is ஆசை காட்டு, சபலத்தை தூண்டு. See Tempt meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is tempt?
- Tempt is a verb.
- How do you pronounce tempt?
- Tempt is pronounced /tɛmpt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of tempt?
- The past tense of tempt is tempted.
Words near tempt in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tempt (page history and authors); tempt (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tempt (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tempt (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tempt (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tempt (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tempt (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: en-us-tempt.ogg.
Cite this entry: “tempt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tempt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.