English Meaning & Definitions
To attract and hold the interest and attention of someone; to charm or enchant.
- “The magician's performance managed to captivate the entire audience for over an hour.”
- “Her beautiful singing voice never fails to captivate those who hear it.”
English Antonyms & Opposites
Comprehensive Thesaurus Breakdown
Compare formal, informal, literary synonyms and register nuances for “captivate”.
Derived from the Latin 'captivare', meaning 'to take captive', which itself comes from 'captivus' (captive). Originally used in the 16th century to mean 'to capture or seize', the meaning evolved by the 17th century to describe the figurative act of capturing someone's attention, heart, or imagination.
Think of a 'captive' audience; when you captivate someone, you hold their attention as if they were your captive.
Frequently Asked Questions About “captivate”
1. What is the meaning of “captivate” in English?
In English, captivate (verb) is defined as: “To attract and hold the interest and attention of someone; to charm or enchant.”.
2. How do you use “captivate” in a sentence?
“The magician's performance managed to captivate the entire audience for over an hour.”
3. What are English synonyms of “captivate”?
4. What is the etymology and word origin of “captivate”?
Derived from the Latin 'captivare', meaning 'to take captive', which itself comes from 'captivus' (captive). Originally used in the 16th century to mean 'to capture or seize', the meaning evolved by the 17th century to describe the figurative act of capturing someone's attention, heart, or imagination.
🇬🇧More English Words to English
View all English words →A measurement of time indicating an instantaneous occurrence or a state where no time has elapsed.
The base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.
A specific duration of time equal to one hour and forty-six minutes and twelve seconds.
The cardinal number equal to one thousand million (1,000,000,000), expressed in scientific notation as 10^9.