TEMPT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Tempt

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/tɛmpt/ Listen

verb

Tempt v. t. (past & past part. tempted; pres. part. tempting)

To put to trial; to prove; to test; to try. "God did tempt Abraham." "Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God."

To lead, or endeavor to lead, into evil; to entice to what is wrong; to seduce. "Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed."

To endeavor to persuade; to induce; to invite; to incite; to provoke; to instigate. "Tempt not the brave and needy to despair." "Nor tempt the wrath of heaven's avenging Sire."

To endeavor to accomplish or reach; to attempt. "Ere leave be given to tempt the nether skies."

Synonyms: To entice; allure; attract; decoy; seduce.

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Etymology of 'Tempt'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Tempt" Quotes from Famous Books

... His aim is to tempt Black's centre pawn away and to make his QB4 and K4 accessible for his own forces. Black might be justified in taking the pawn, if he really could hold the pawn thus gained. We shall show later on that this is not so, and that White can win it back easily and advantageously. ...

— Chess Strategy • Edward Lasker

... to tempt him with a prospect of success, either by leading him to believe the blockading force was smaller than it was, or by removing it to such a distance as would induce him to attempt to evade it, or both. A leading ...

— Some Principles of Maritime Strategy • Julian Stafford Corbett

... action has blotted out the bad and his merit as a citizen more than outweighed his demerits as an individual. But none of these allowed either wealth with its prospect of future enjoyment to unnerve his spirit, or poverty with its hope of a day of freedom and riches to tempt him to shrink from danger. No, holding that vengeance upon their enemies was more to be desired than any personal blessings and reckoning this to be the most glorious of hazards, they joyfully determined to accept the risk, to make sure of their vengeance and to ...

— The Wrack of the Storm • Maurice Maeterlinck

... malignant sprite who had prevented any favour being of use to him. In the general exhaustion produced by the wars of Louis XIV., a Scotchman named James Law began the great system of hollow speculation which has continued ever since to tempt people to their ruin. He tried raising sums of money on national credit, and also devised a company who were to lend money to found a great settlement on the Mississippi, the returns from which were to be enormous. Every one speculated in shares, and the wildest ...

— History of France • Charlotte M. Yonge

... not tempt me to go abroad at this time. In your estimation I am not even a woman,—only a girl, and yet I have enough girlhood to wish to take my little part in the ...

— An Original Belle • E. P. Roe

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