AMUSING • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Amusing

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/əmjˈuzɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Amuse v. t. (past & past part. amused; pres. part. amusing)

To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder. (Obs.) "Camillus set upon the Gauls when they were amused in receiving their gold." "Being amused with grief, fear, and fright, he could not find the house."

To entertain or occupy in a pleasant manner; to stir with pleasing or mirthful emotions; to divert. "A group of children amusing themselves with pushing stones from the top (of the cliff), and watching as they plunged into the lake."

To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude. "He amused his followers with idle promises."

Synonyms: To entertain; gratify; please; divert; beguile; deceive; occupy. To Amuse, Divert, Entertain. We are amused by that which occupies us lightly and pleasantly. We are entertained by that which brings our minds into agreeable contact with others, as conversation, or a book. We are diverted by that which turns off our thoughts to something of livelier interest, especially of a sportive nature, as a humorous story, or a laughable incident. "Whatever amuses serves to kill time, to lull the faculties, and to banish reflection. Whatever entertains usually awakens the understanding or gratifies the fancy. Whatever diverts is lively in its nature, and sometimes tumultuous in its effects."

Amuse v. i. To muse; to mediate. (Obs.)

adjective

Amusing adj. Giving amusement; diverting; as, an amusing story.

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Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Amusing" Quotes from Famous Books

... no intention of rivalling Horace: his humbler, but not less amusing, prototypes were Walter de Mapes and his cotemporaries. We may accept his own ...

— Notes and Queries, Number 82, May 24, 1851 • Various

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... be something particularly humorous in the barefacedness of this august Sultan of Zanzibar, if it were connected with anything less horrible than slavery. For instance, there is something almost amusing in the fact that dhows were sailing every day for Lamoo with hundreds of slaves, although that small town was known to be very much overstocked at the time. It was also quite entertaining to know that the commanders of the French ...

— Black Ivory • R.M. Ballantyne

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... idiot, Guerchard? The rogues' Brummel in a convict's cap! The gentleman-burglar in a gaol! For Lupin it's only a trifling annoyance, but for a duke it's a disaster! Come, in your turn, be frank: don't you find that amusing?" ...

— Arsene Lupin • Edgar Jepson

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... sentimental and romantic. The critics of the North have expended a great deal of ingenuity in trying to prove that Ibsen exposed his own temperament and character in the course of Catilina. No doubt there is a great temptation to indulge in this species of analysis, but it is amusing to note that some of the soliloquies which have been pointed out as particularly self-revealing are translated almost word for word out of Sallust. Perhaps the one passage in the play which is really significant is that in which the ...

— Henrik Ibsen • Edmund Gosse

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... Historian of the war, and thus add his little mite for the improvement of future generations. He decided that it must be characteristic, and in keeping in style with his other productions: short, pithy, and comprehensive; simple and amusing enough for a child; deep and sarcastic enough ...

— Punchinello, Vol. 2., No. 32, November 5, 1870 • Various

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