enticing
Americanadjective
Usage
What does enticing mean? Enticing means having the effect of attracting, tempting, or drawing people in.Things that are described as enticing produce desire or attraction. The word is especially used to describe things that appeal to the senses. But something can be enticing for other reasons, as in The job offer was enticing due to the big salary increase, but I didn’t think the work would be fulfilling. The adjective enticing comes from the continuous tense (-ing form) of the verb entice, meaning to attract, allure, or tempt. (Entice is sometimes confused with the verb incite, which means to encourage, urge, prompt, or provoke someone to do something, especially something bad. Incite is usually used more negatively than entice.)Something that’s described as enticing is viewed as positive and desirous by the person whom it has enticed, but the word itself sometimes implies that such a thing serves to tempt people to do something that perhaps they shouldn’t, as in That chocolate is enticing, but I vowed to give up sweets for a while.Example: The enticing aroma of the roasted nuts draws people to the street cart.
Other Word Forms
- enticingly adverb
- enticingness noun
- nonenticing adjective
- nonenticingly adverb
- unenticing adjective
Etymology
Origin of enticing
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Today’s winners need to figure out how to market and price products that fly off the dollar-store shelves while also enticing higher-income shoppers.
Milan-Cortina 2026 has been one of the most eventful Winter Olympics in history – in sporting and political terms - so it is appropriate that the final medal event could be the most enticing of all.
From BBC
The potential is huge, analysts say, not just for helping coaches further refine training and game-day strategies, but for providing novel content to broadcasters or enticing fans to online betting markets.
From Barron's
To my mind, social media is the problem, enticing everyone to covet conspicuous consumption.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped to 6.04%, nearly one percentage point lower than a year prior, potentially enticing buyers.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
