entertainen‧ter‧tain /ˌentəˈteɪn $ -tər-/ ●●○ verb 
She entertained the children with stories, songs and drama. A museum should aim to entertain as well as educate.2[intransitive, transitive] to invite people to your home for a meal, party etc, or to take your company’s customers somewhere to have a meal, drinks etc: Mark usually does the cooking when we entertain. Do you get an allowance for entertaining clients?3entertain an idea/hope/thought etc formal to consider an idea etc, or allow yourself to think that something might happen or be true: She could never entertain the idea of living in the country.
WORD ORIGINentertain
Origin:
1400-1500 Old French entretenir ‘to hold together, support’, from tenir ‘to hold’VERB TABLE
entertain
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | entertain |
| he, she, it | entertains | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | entertained |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have entertained |
| he, she, it | has entertained | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had entertained |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will entertain |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have entertained |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am entertaining |
| he, she, it | is entertaining | |
| you, we, they | are entertaining | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was entertaining |
| you, we, they | were entertaining | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been entertaining |
| he, she, it | has been entertaining | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been entertaining |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be entertaining |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been entertaining |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- About a fifth of their income is spent on entertaining clients.
- An important part of the job is entertaining business clients.
- Being a sociable person, Eva loved entertaining.
- Donna entertains at home on a regular basis.
- I meet a lot of people, but I don't entertain much myself.
- It's Scott's personality that really inspires and entertains.
- Mike often gets home late when he's entertaining business clients.
- This is a easy but impressive dish if you are entertaining at home.
- As always, Costas is entertaining and well-spoken, and his monologues are undeniably passionate.
- Eventually this became independent; now it produces sought after family shows to entertain the elderly and to raise funds for charity.
- She entertained but fleetingly the notion of ringing the Bishop.
- Such a call might have wonderfully entertaining aspects.
- The plot unfolds engagingly, with some very entertaining video segments.
- They had a hugely entertaining and morale-building win Sunday, but it was against the Bengals.
- What am I doing, entertaining David Kent in my dressing-gown?
- While no great leap forward stylistically, it has enough chewy bits to surprise listeners and keep them entertained through repeated listenings.
Longman Language Activatorto invite someone
to ask someone to come to a party, wedding, meal etc. Ask is more informal than invite: · It's going to be a big wedding - they've invited over a hundred people.· "Are you going to Emma's party?" "No, I haven't been asked."· I'd love to come -- thanks for asking me.· It is a great honour to have been invited here tonight.invite/ask somebody to a party/wedding/meal etc: · I was invited to a couple of his dinner parties last year.· Do you think we should ask Carol and Helen to the party?invite/ask somebody for lunch/dinner: · Madeleine has invited us for dinner on Saturday.invite/ask somebody to do something: · Hane's parents have asked me to come and stay with them for a couple of weeks.invite somebody over (=invite someone to your house for a meal, party etc): · It won't be a big do, we're just inviting a few close friends over.invite/ask somebody in (=invite a visitor into your home): · He invited me in for a coffee.
when someone is invited to a party, wedding, meal etc: at somebody's invitation: · They had come aboard at Charles's invitation.turn down an invitation (=not accept it): · I'm afraid I have to turn down your invitation to dinner.accept an/somebody's invitation: · Winston gratefully accepted the invitation.
to ask someone to go to a restaurant, a film etc with you because you want to start a romantic relationship with them: · Why don't you ask her out? Or are you too shy?· You asked her out? What did she say?
if you have someone over , they come to your home to have a meal or to spend time with you because you have invited them: · My father is having some colleagues over from the University tonight.· I want to have Danielle over to play with me.have somebody over for drinks/dinner etc: · We had Nick's parents over for dinner on Saturday.
to invite someone to go somewhere with you and a group of other people: · Do you mind if I invite one of my friends along?· Whose idea was it to ask Danni along?
to provide a meal or social activity for someone in your home, either because they are your friends, or because they are people you work with: · This is an easy but impressive dish if you are entertaining at home.· About a fifth of their income is spent on entertaining clients.
to have a party: have a party/get-together/reception etc · We used to have a big Christmas party every year.· The couple had their wedding reception at the Museum of Modern Art.· Mark, my boss, had a surprise party to welcome me home.
to have a party at your home, often a big or expensive one, especially in order to celebrate something: · He threw a huge party to celebrate making his first million dollars.throw a party for: · The staff and patients threw a going-away party for Dr Rogers.· The Krugers threw an impromptu cocktail party for him in the backyard.
: hold a party/dinner/reception/function etc to have a formal or official party: · The anniversary dinner was held Wednesday night at the Washington Hilton.· They are holding a fund-raising reception on Friday in the City Hall.
: give a party/dinner party/lunch party etc to be the person who organizes a party: · I'm giving a dinner party on Thursday night. Would you like to come?· On Maggie's last night in the house, Jo gave a little farewell party.give a party for somebody: · The prospect of giving a dinner party for my boyfriend's snobbish parents filled me with gloom.· The last show of the tour was in Atlanta, and I decided to give a party for the singers and musicians.
: host a party/dinner party/reception etc to be the person who organizes a formal party and officially welcomes the guests: · Colette will be hosting a cocktail reception at 6.00 pm in the Grosvenor Suite.· Last year, the city hosted a three-day gay pride festival.
to give parties, especially fairly formal parties, for people who are not particularly close friends, for example business customers: · I meet a lot of people, but I don't entertain much myself.· Being a sociable person, Eva loved entertaining.· An important part of the job is entertaining business clients.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Do you get an allowance for entertaining clients?COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
Do you get an allowance for entertaining clients? (=have guests at your house or another place for a meal or party)· Their garden is a wonderful place to entertain guests.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· He even entertained them down here, but she took it all in her stride.· I even entertained, though for the briefest minute, the notion of giving up Jasper altogether.· Do not even entertain the possibility that it will not.· Nor should we even entertain a strategy so tortuously contrived and, in our situation, so unnatural.· It causes no real damage and may even entertain.
· It was all highly entertaining and colourful, especially after a couple of days of shows that explored new boundaries of tedium.· The morals and ethics are obvious, the comedy more subtle and highly entertaining.· My take on this particular part was that it was highly entertaining.
· Cassie entertained more than a suspicion that John would definitely prove to be very ideologically unsound indeed!· On the other hand, if you attended the other concert, perhaps the evening was more entertaining.· However, infinitely more entertaining is a gentle stroking on the inside of the upper thigh.· Maximum public acceptance will require that interactive catalog services have a more entertaining visual appearance than traditional text-intensive catalogs have had.· But the myth was more entertaining when dull but inescapable facts were omitted.· The 1975 Hoosiers may have been a more entertaining team.· If Polly ever entertained more than three people at the same time some one had to bring their own chair.· Ridicule is a decidedly more entertaining version of the genre with the grace to flash us some intelligence and self-consciousness.
· We were entertained most generously both in people's homes and in some of the many splendid restaurants.· In this era of specialized travel, arguably the most entertaining new publications take a different approach.· In fact, Holden has long been the most entertaining City Council Member.· Which, for those of us on the outside, is the 49ers at their most entertaining.· The most entertaining moments of the debate took place during acerbic cross fires among the leading candidates.
· Donna Landry entertains very little doubt that Leapor's poetry is basically lesbian though the case is not argued in depth.· It was a very entertaining, albeit fabricated, film.· The plot unfolds engagingly, with some very entertaining video segments.· One is very charming, very entertaining, very everything other than responsible, and has no money.· George Lyttelton, father of Humphrey, was once very entertained by a hat like that.· The best reason for including a Giant in your army is that they are very entertaining!· Nobody likes to admit that they entertain very little, or that they rarely enjoy it when they do.
NOUN· Radio producers have to remind themselves each week that radio broadcasting isn't about selling records, but about entertaining an audience.· Perrault wanted not only to entertain his audience, but to teach a specific moral lesson with each of his tales.· In Hollywood they would be able to entertain their vast worldwide audience in relative freedom.
· They wanted somewhere really stunning to entertain clients of a major insurance group.
· But, in a tremendous game that thoroughly entertained the big crowd, Garryowen played a storm.· Morris dancers, instead of soap box politicians, entertained the crowd at the revival.· Before the finals the veterans came out to entertain the crowd.
· If she had entertained any doubts before, they had gone for ever.· Donna Landry entertains very little doubt that Leapor's poetry is basically lesbian though the case is not argued in depth.· Except when he was entertaining I doubt if he ever sat down to a three-course meal.· He had come to entertain serious doubts about it himself.
· Devon and Cumbria, among the worst hit by the disease, were leading contenders to entertain the Downing Street family.
· Diana stays at Highgrove and entertains her old friend David Waterhouse for lunch.· Voice over Douglas Cox is now safely back at home entertaining his friends with his tales of bravery.· The government is planning lavish festivities to entertain all the friends that it claims to have.· Sarah was invited to Diana's wedding and entertained her royal friend in her apartment near Clapham Junction in south London.· In a good position for watching the proceedings were the carriages of three or four noblemen who were entertaining their friends.· All of the people who were going to entertain these friends were there to greet them.· My family in Nottingham entertained a friend who stayed with us for several days.
· They were evidently able to spend unlimited roubles on receiving and entertaining guests from the West.· She also loved to entertain guests at the farmhouse or socialize at dinner out in the community.· In truth no expense will be spared to royally entertain the guests on board the Champagne Orient Express.· There is live music to entertain guests several evenings a week.· Now what more can he do to pass the evening pleasantly, and entertain his guests?· Baron Ferdinand wanted to house his fine collections and have somewhere to entertain his guests.· What are you thinking of, entertaining guests here in your revolting lair?· He was in residence mainly only at weekends, but entertained no guests.
· Wives of diplomats are expected to spend evenings out, or entertain at home.· Hence, she may be prohibited from entertaining others in the home.· Dame Sybil Connolly, internationally renowned interior designer, entertains at her private home in Dublin.
· Most of official Washington entertained little hope of an early improvement in East-West relations.· However, I do not encourage the hon. Gentleman to entertain high hopes in that regard.· Most significantly on my sense of a distant but still valid national identity-until then I had entertained hopes of return.· After this it is possible for labouring poets to entertain far greater hopes of public impact.· Meanwhile that one Catholic entertained the hope that his freedom to defend the Copernican system might yet be restored.· Nor, until tonight, had he dared entertain any hope of release.
· Hypocrites! he thought, and entertained a fugitive idea that Bella and Jim needed him.· There is factual evidence to support the view that Storni entertained the idea of suicide long before 1938.· To entertain the idea that they are matters which are open to discussion is in fact deeply offensive.· Even if the miracle happened, would she entertain the idea of living in the Shires?· The problem is that each of those imputing personality to the state entertains a different idea of what it is.
· She entertained but fleetingly the notion of ringing the Bishop.
· Minto was always happy to entertain young people, and the invitation was issued.· To this point his life was otherwise full of nothing but the petty disputes that entertained church people and bored everyone else.· No doubt the clients he entertained here were people who expected the best.· I saw music as a way to perform and entertain people.· You can entertain people as you entertain yourself.· If Polly ever entertained more than three people at the same time some one had to bring their own chair.· You can entertain people as you entertain yourself.
· So you should entertain the possibility of communicating more complex thoughts by building more complex sentences.· For a few seconds I entertained the possibility.· It entertains the possibility of amelioration and even of cure.· Gilderians never entertain the possibility that people function from motives other than economic.· Most other respondents categorically refused to entertain the possibility.· Do not even entertain the possibility that it will not.
· In breaks in our work Edward entertained me with curious stories of the old alchemists.· While Violette entertained them with stories of increasing complexity, Katherine from beneath lowered lids stole occasional glances at Carlo.
· But he never entertained the thought of just walking away.· How could she, even fleetingly, entertain such a thought for a man who despised her so deeply and so openly?· To the point where Valerie would entertain the thought that Casey was possessed.· He had entertained thoughts of marrying her and raising a family, but he entered the Society instead.
· They had to entertain the visitors and Felipe would not let Maggie slide out of it.· Trainers at the Wildlife Theater entertain and educate visitors about the animals, and share some of their training methods.· If he was entertaining visitors, he might not be at all pleased to have her arriving uninvited on the doorstep.· The museum would entertain visitors to the Canyon with the history of the entire Four Corners region.· An attractive house, used by the State to entertain foreign visitors.
VERB· If a composer remembers to keep this audience entertained, think what he can say to them all at the same time.· Mrs Keep entertained with chapters of popular novels.· He, Eric and I were supposed to keep Blyth entertained.· Also, hundreds of costumed characters will keep visitors entertained throughout the day.· Back in the Rathausplatz a seven-piece jazz band of students dressed up in 1920s' costume was keeping a large crowd entertained.· I keep it for entertaining mostly.· While no great leap forward stylistically, it has enough chewy bits to surprise listeners and keep them entertained through repeated listenings.
· Free workers are prepared to entertain a bigger downside risk if the upside on reward matches it.· But be prepared to entertain yourself: The expensively appointed restaurant usually is subdued and was deathly quiet on a recent visit.· She guessed these were harlots who were prepared to entertain the men according to their preferences.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY
- He had entertained thoughts of marrying her and raising a family, but he entered the Society instead.
- Most significantly on my sense of a distant but still valid national identity-until then I had entertained hopes of return.
WORD FAMILYnounentertainerentertainmententertainingadjectiveentertainingverbentertainadverbentertainingly
1[intransitive, transitive] to amuse or interest people in a way that gives them pleasureentertain somebody with something She entertained the children with stories, songs and drama. A museum should aim to entertain as well as educate.2[intransitive, transitive] to invite people to your home for a meal, party etc, or to take your company’s customers somewhere to have a meal, drinks etc: Mark usually does the cooking when we entertain. Do you get an allowance for entertaining clients?3entertain an idea/hope/thought etc formal to consider an idea etc, or allow yourself to think that something might happen or be true: She could never entertain the idea of living in the country.