beguile
/bɪˈɡʌɪl
/verb [with object]
1Charm or enchant (someone), often in a deceptive way: he beguiled the voters with his good looks...
- If Hart hadn't swept our dear girl Stella off her feet, I might have to try and beguile her with my charm.
- Her smile beguiled Paul, and for a very brief second he forgot what he was supposed to do.
- It kept calling him… beguiling him… spellbinding him!
Synonyms
charm, attract, enchant, entrance, win over, woo, captivate, bewitch, spellbind, dazzle, blind, hypnotize, mesmerize, seduce, tempt, lead on, lure, entice, ensnare, entrap;
deceive, mislead, take in, trick, inveigle, dupe, fool, double-cross, hoodwink, take advantage of
informal tickle someone's fancy, float someone's boat, butter up, sweet-talk, soft-soap, bamboozle, con, diddle, shaft, pull a fast one on, put one over on, take for a ride, string along, lead up the garden path, pull the wool over someone's eyes
North American informal sucker, snooker
Australian/New Zealand pull a swifty on
charming, attractive, appealing, pleasing, pleasant, lovely, delightful, enchanting, entrancing, charismatic, captivating, bewitching, spellbinding, hypnotizing, mesmerizing, magnetic, alluring, enticing, tempting, inviting, seductive, irresistible
informal dreamy, heavenly, gorgeous, come-hither
1.1Trick (someone) into doing something: they were beguiled into signing a peace treaty...
- Worse yet, these ‘other’ people are beguiled into actually believing this nonsense.
- The answer is that he was beguiled into thinking about language and the world in terms of a particular model.
- She said that her son had been beguiled into joining the Sikh bands, but was not a Sikh at heart.
2 literary Help (time) pass pleasantly: to beguile some of the time they went to the cinema...
- By the way, in those times cards were not only a means to beguile the time, but also a symbol of the society structure: hearts embodied the priests, diamonds meant the bourgeoisie, spades represented officers and aristocracy, clubs referred to the peasants.
- To beguile the time he talks of Transylvanian history with the mayor.
- Books should beguile the time.
Synonyms
entertain, amuse, delight, please, occupy, absorb, engage, distract, divert, interest, fascinate, enthral, engross, preoccupy, hold the attention of
while away, pass, spend, use up, take up;
kill, waste, fritter, dissipate
Derivatives
beguilement
/ noun ...- The difficulty does not reside in any beguilement of the court into looking more tenderly on such who breach their contracts, glamorous though they often are.
- In an effort to take some of the beguilement out of her young eyes, I make light of your dark and somber task.
beguiler
/ noun ...- All the actors are superb, but Tena is the chief beguiler.
- Like accounts of practical jokes, such narratives focus on issues of belief, beguilers, and the beguiled.
- They held him guilty of acts of sorcery; they thought him a wicked beguiler of the common people.
Origin
Middle English (in the sense 'deceive, deprive of by fraud'): from be- 'thoroughly' + obsolete guile 'to deceive' (see guile).
Rhymes
- stead
- steadfast
- steadfastly
- steadfastness
- Steadicam
- steadier
- steadily
- steadiness
- steading
- steady
- steady-going
- steady on!
- steady state
- point load
- point-maker
- point man
- point mass
- point mutation
- point-net
- point number
- point of contact
- point of departure
- point of honour
- point of inflection
- point of order