captivate
verb /ˈkæptɪveɪt/
/ˈkæptɪveɪt/
[often passive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they captivate | /ˈkæptɪveɪt/ /ˈkæptɪveɪt/ |
| he / she / it captivates | /ˈkæptɪveɪts/ /ˈkæptɪveɪts/ |
| past simple captivated | /ˈkæptɪveɪtɪd/ /ˈkæptɪveɪtɪd/ |
| past participle captivated | /ˈkæptɪveɪtɪd/ /ˈkæptɪveɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form captivating | /ˈkæptɪveɪtɪŋ/ /ˈkæptɪveɪtɪŋ/ |
- to keep somebody’s attention by being interesting, attractive, etc. synonym enchant
- be captivated (by something) The children were captivated by her stories.
- Men were captivated by her charm.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryCaptivate is used with these nouns as the object:- audience
- imagination
Word Originearly 16th cent.: from late Latin captivat- ‘taken captive’, from the verb captivare, from captivus, from capere ‘seize, take’.