Tempt

Definitions: Tempt

Tempt

Verb

1. Entice to do.

2. Provoke someone to do something through promises or persuasion.

3. Give rise to a desire.

4. Induce into action by using one's charm; "She charmed him into giving her all his money".

5. Try to seduce.

6. Try presumptuously; "St. Anthony was tempted in the desert".

Date "tempt" was first used: 12th century. (references)

Note: Tempt \Tempt\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Tempted; present participle verb or noun Tempting.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Tempt

Synonyms: allure (v), charm (v), entice (v), influence (v), invite (v), lure (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Desire	Cause desire, create desire, raise desire, excite desire, provoke desire; whet the appetite; appetize, titillate, allure, attract, take one's fancy, tempt; hold out temptation, hold out allurement; tantalize, make one's mouth water, faire venir l'eau a la bouche.
Essay	Verb: try, essay; experiment; endeavor, strive; tempt, attempt, make an attempt; venture, adventure, speculate, take one's chance, tempt fortune; try one's fortune, try one's luck, try one's hand; use one's endeavor; feel one's way, grope one's way, pick one's way.
Insolence	Tempt Providence, want snuffing.
Intention	Toss up; cast lots, draw lots; leave to chance, trust to chance, leave to the chapter of accidents, trust to the chapter of accidents; tempt fortune; chance it, take one's chance, take a shot at it (attempt); run the risk, run the chance, incur the risk, incur the chance, encounter the risk, encounter the chance; stand the hazard of the die.
Motive	Tempt, seduce, overpersuade, entice, allure, captivate, fascinate, bewitch, carry away, charm, conciliate, wheedle, coax, lure; inveigle; tantalize; cajole; (deceive).
Rashness	Donner tete baissee; knock, one's bead against a wall; (be unskillful); rush on destruction; kick against the pricks, tempt Providence, go on a forlorn hope, go on a fool's errand.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Tempt

English words defined with "tempt": Overtempt ♦ Slocking stone ♦ Tempted ♦ Untempter. (references)

Specialty definitions using "tempt": Dunstan ♦ Hunger seasons Food. (references)

Etymologies containing "tempt": tentacle ♦ Untempter. (references)

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Don't tempt me, Frodo. (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; writing credit: Frances Walsh) Do not tempt a desperate man! (Romeo + Juliet; writing credit: Craig Pearce) You were unfaithful to Cordelia so I took on the guise of a twelfth-grader to tempt her with the Wish. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) I may wanna tempt fate. (American Gothic; writing credit: Mariana Reyes; Doris Segu�) Yes, if the devil tempt you to do good. (Richard III; writing credit: William Shakespeare; Ian McKellen)
Lyrics	Tempt me, Drive me ("More Than A Woman"; performing artist: Aaliyah) Honey you really tempt me ("RUNNING ON EMPTY"; performing artist: JACKSON BROWN) Well they tempt you man with silver and they tempt you sir with gold ("Pink Cadillac"; performing artist: Natalie Cole) Don't tempt fate ("Love Somebody"; performing artist: Rick Springfield)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Hot, Sweet, and Sticky: Sensuous Cinnamon Buns, Wicked Chocolate, Spicy Dishes, and 72 Other Recipes to Tempt Your Lover in the Kitchen (reference) In the Kitchen With the Chippendales: More Than 70 Romantic Recipes to Tempt, Tease, and Tantalize (reference) Naughty or Nice: 101 Sexy Ways to Tempt Your Lover (reference) Seduction: Tempt, Tease and Tantalize Your Lover (reference) Tempt Me Not (reference) (more book examples)

Music	Never Tempt Me [CD-SINGLE] (reference) You Tempt Me (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Ralph Waldo Emerson	There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Author	Date	Quotation
John F. Kennedy	1961	We dare not tempt them with weakness. (reference)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Emma	Austen, Jane	However, I think it answered so far as to tempt one to go again.
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	To tempt that unknown, to throw the lead into that darkness, to go on a voyage of discovery in that abyss, who would have dared?
King Richard III	Shakespeare, William	Ay, if the devil tempt you to do good.
Walden	Thoreau, Henry David	It is the premium and the feast which tempt him.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Tempt" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 86.24% of the time. "Tempt" is used about 298 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	86.24%	257	18,451
Lexical Verb (base form)	13.76%	41	53,521
Total	100.00%	298	N/A

Expressions using "tempt": tempt fortune ♦ tempt providence. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "tempt"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		bekoor (attract, charm, draw, entice). (various references)

Albanian		provokoj (provoke), josh (attract, bewitch, charm, dangle, dazzle, decoy, deprave, draw, entice, inveigle, lure, lure away, seduce, vamp, wile). (various references)

Arabic		‏فتن (bewitch, captivate, charm, enchant, enthral, enthrall, enthralling, entrance, fascinate, glamor, glamour, infatuate, love, magnetize, mesmerize, ravish, rejoice, seduce, smite, spellbind, thrill, witch), ‏غوى (bait, be seduced, debauch, entice, enticement, seduce, snare, solicit, undo), ‏حث (actuate, admonish, debriefing, dub, encourage, encouragement, goad, gun, hurry, impel, incitation, incite, induce, induce to speak, inducement, interest, motivate, motivation, motive, persuade, precipitate, press, prod, prompt, prompting, propel, provocation, provoke, push on, recommend, rouse, solicit, solicitation, spur, stimulate, stimulation, stir), ‏جذب (allure, attract, attraction, catch, charm, engage, entice, hale, haul, magnetize, press, pull, rivet, strain), ‏جرب (experience, experiment, give it a try, give it a whirl, have a go, pilot, proof, scab, test, try, try out), ‏إختبر (examine, experience, prove, test, try), ‏أغرى (addict, bait, beckon, bring, entice, importune, induce, inveigle, invite, lead on, seduce, suborn, undo). (various references)

Bulgarian		съблазнявам (allure, entice, inveigle, lure, seduce, vamp), рискувам (adventure, chance, dare, gamble, hazard, jeopardize, pawn, risk, stake, take a chance, take a risk, venture), примамвам (coax, decoy, entice, hold forth, inveigle, lure, snare, train, wile), поставям на изпитание (task, try), помамвам (entice, lure), поблазням (entice), изкушавам (invite). (various references)

Chinese		誘 (entice), 诱惑 (Entice, Enticed, Enticement, Enticing, Provocative, seduce, seduced, Seducing, temptation, Tempted, tempting), 勾引 (seduce). (various references)

Czech		vábit (attract, beckon, entice, woo), svádìt, popouzet, pokoušet, lákat (allure, beckon, draw, entice, lure, woo). (various references)

Dutch		in verzoeking brengen (entice), bekoren (attract, charm, draw, entice). (various references)

Esperanto		tenti (entice). (various references)

Faeroese		freista (entice). (various references)

Farsi		فریفتن (Bewitch, Captivate, Charm, Deceive, Decoy, Doodle, Enchant, Entice, Hustle, Intrigue, Inveigle, Jilt, Lure, Poop, Seduce, Skunk, Wile), اغواکردن (Crimp, Entice, Lure, Seduce, Wile), دچاروسوسه کردن . (various references)

Finnish		vietellä (allure, entice, seduce), kiusata (annoy, harass, tease, torment, trouble, vex, worry), houkutella (allure, attract, coax, decoy, entice, inveigle, lure, persuade). (various references)

French		tenter. (various references)

German		versuchen (attempt, entice, test, to attempt, to try, try), verleiten (deceive, entice, inveigle, lead astray, misguide, mislead, seduce, to deceive, to inveigle, to misguide), in Versuchung führen (entice, lead into temptation, to lead into temptation). (various references)

Greek		δελεάζω (allure, bait, blarney, cajole, captivate, decoy, ensnare, entice, lure, seduce). (various references)

Hebrew		למשוך (attract, drag, draw, extend, pull, strain, stretch, tow), לש�"ל (cajole, coax, entice, persuade, seduce, wheedle), לפתות (decoy, gull, inveigle, lead on, lure, solicit, suborn), ל�"סית (egg on, entice, foment, incite, inflame, instigate, persuade, seduce, whet on). (various references)

Hungarian		kísért (ghost, to haunt, to tempt), csábít (allure, attract, coax, draw, entice, lure, to allure, to beguile, to entice, to gouge, to lure, to solicit, to wile, wile). (various references)

Indonesian		mengiming-imingi (entice), menggodai (seduce), menggoda (entice, hazily, seduce, see: goda, tantalize, tease), giur (arouse interest), gida (plague). (various references)

Italian		tentare (attempt, endeavor, endeavour, essay, try), invogliare, incitare (abet, animate, egg, embolden, excite, goad, hound, impel, incite, lash, prompt, provoke, rouse, spur, stimulate, sting, stir, stir up), allettare (allure, attract, cajole, charm, entice, lure, wheedle). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		�"�す (to instigate, to tempt). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		おとしいれる (to ensnare, to tempt), そなう (to ask, to call, to induce, to invite, to lure, to tempt), そそのかす (to instigate, to tempt), そそる (to arouse, to excite, to incite, to stimulate, to stir up, to tempt), しむける (to act toward, to forward to, to handle, to induce, to send, to tempt, to treat), さそい�"む (to entice, to invite someone to join in, to tempt), いざなう (to ask, to call, to induce, to invite, to lure, to tempt). (various references)

Korean		� 혹하십시�" (Entice, seduce). (various references)

Manx		miolaghey (entice, induce, lure). (various references)

Pig Latin		empttay

Polish		kusić. (various references)

Portuguese		tentar (allure, attempt, endeavour, endemic, entice, exert, experiment, lurid, play act, pretend, seek, try). (various references)

Romanian		tenta (bait), seduce (allure, entice, fascinate, lead away, seduce), momi (allure, bait, decoy, entice, inveigle, lure), ispiti (allure, appeal, attract, bait, carry away, decoy, entice, examine, inveigle, invite, lure, tax, torture, try), invita (ask, bid, book, call in, call on, invite, solicit, summon, take out), amãgi (cheat, chouse, circumvent, deceive, delude, dupe, entice, mistify, seduce), ademeni (allure, bait, corrupt, dangle, decoy, delude, ensnare, entice, fascinate, inveigle, lead up the garden, lure, seduce), aţâţa (abet, blood, brighten, fan, flush, foment, incite, inflame, instigate, mend, quicken, whet), încerca (aim, assay, attempt, bother, endeavor, endeavour, essay, experience, fit on, make, offer, sample, taste, test, try, undergo, undertake). (various references)

Russian		искушать (lure). (various references)

Scottish		buair (annoy, disturb, provoke, vex). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		pokušati (assay, attempt, essay, give it a try, have a go, try), izazvati (arouse, bring about, call up, cause, challenge, create, educe, engender, generate, induce, originate, produce, prompt, touch off, trigger, trigger off), dovesti u iskušenje. (various references)

Spanish		tentar (allure, entice, grope, tease, try). (various references)

Swedish		fresta (strain, tantalise, tantalize, try). (various references)

Turkish		meydan okumak (beard, brave, challenge, dare, defy, fling down the gauntlet, fling down the glove, have a chip an one's shoulder, outface, stump, throw down the gage to smb., throw down the glove), kışkırtmak (agitate, antagonize, defy, egg, egg on, excite, fan the flame, ferment, foment, ginger, ginger up, goad, goad on, hound, hound on, incite, inflame, instigate, jockey into, lash, prod, provoke, rouse, set on, solicit, sting, stir up, warm up, whip up), baştan çıkarmak (allure, corrupt, debauch, deprave, entice, entice away, inveigle, lead astray, misguide, pervert, seduce, wile), ayartmak (allure, beguile, bribe, carry away, corrupt, debauch, delude, demoralize, deprave, draw in, entice, entrap, incite, instigate, intrigue, inveigle, lead astray, lead on, lure, pervert, sacret, seduce, soap down, tamper with, wile), özendirmek (abet, accelerate, encourage, prod, support). (various references)

Ukranian		умовляти (admonish, blandish, cajole, expostulate, persuade, ply, reassure, woo, word), заманювати (allure, bait, entice, rope, wile), приваблювати (appeal, attract, captivate, commend, court, fetch, incline, lure, magnetize, pull, take). (various references)

Welsh		temtio. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	corrumpam, corrumpantur, corrumpas, corrumpet, corrumpetur, corrumpit, corrumpitur, corrumpunt, corruperat, corruperunt, corrupimus, corrupit, corrupta, corruptae, corruptam, corruptaque, corrupti, corrupto, corruptorum, corruptum, corruptus, temptare. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Language	Date	Source	Luke Chapter 20, Verse 23
Greek (transliterated)	250 BC	Septuagint	KatanohsaV de autwn thn panourgian eipen proV autouV ti me peirazete
Latin	405	Vulgate	Considerans autem dolum illorum dixit ad eos quid me temptatis
Old English	990	West Saxon	þa cwæð he to him þa he hyra facen onget; Hwi fandige min;
Middle English	1395	Wyclif	And he biheld the disseit of hem, and seide to hem, What tempten ye me?
Renaissance English	1526	Tyndale	He perceaved their craftynes and sayde vnto them: why tept ye me?
Jacobean English	1611	King James	But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me?
Victorian English	1833	Webster	But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, Why tempt ye me?
Basic English	1964	Ogden	But he saw through their trick and said to them,
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	Luke Chapter 20, Verse 23
Bulgarian	А Той разбра лукавството им, и рече им:
Cebuano	Apan siya nakasabut sa ilang lipatlipat, ug miingon kanila,
Chinese	耶穌看出他們的詭詐、就對他們說、
Croatian	Pronièuæi njihovu lukavost, reèe im:
Danish	Men da han mærkede deres Træskhed, sagde han til dem: "Hvorfor friste I mig?
Dutch	En Hij, hun arglistigheid bemerkende, zeide tot hen: Wat verzoekt gij Mij?
Finnish	Mutta hän havaitsi heidän kavaluutensa ja sanoi heille:
French	Jésus, apercevant leur ruse, leur répondit: Montrez-moi un denier.
German	Er aber merkte ihre List und sprach zu ihnen: Was versuchet ihr mich?
Haitian Creole	Men, Jezi wè se nan pèlen yo te vle pran li. Li di yo:
Hungarian	Õ pedig észrevévén álnokságukat, monda nékik: Mit kísértetek engem?
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari	Tetapi Yesus tahu muslihat mereka. Karena itu Ia berkata,
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	Tetapi sebab Ia mengetahui muslihat mereka itu, lalu berkata kepada mereka itu,
Italian	Conoscendo la loro malizia, disse:
Korean	예 수 께 서 그 간 계 를 아 시 � 가 라 사 대
Latvian	Bet Viòð, izpratis to viltîbu, sacîja viòiem: Kâpçc jûs mani kârdinât?
Maori	Otira i kitea e ia to ratou hianga, a ka mea kia ratou, He aha koutou ka whakamatautau nei i ahau?
Modern Greek	Εννοησας δε την πανουργιαν αυτων, ειπε προς αυτους· Τι με πειραζετε;
Norwegian	Men han merket deres list og sa til dem:
Portuguese	Mas Jesus, percebendo a astúcia deles, disse-lhes:
Rumanian	Isus le -a priceput viclenia, wi le -a rqspuns: ,,Pentru ce Mq ispitiyi?
Russian	пО ЦЕ, ХТБЪХНЕЧ МХЛБЧУФЧП ЙИ, УЛБЪБМ ЙН: ЮФП ЧЩ нЕОС ЙУЛХЫБЕФЕ?
Shuar	Tura Jesuska ni yajauch Enentáimsamurin Nekáa chicharainiak,
Spanish	Pero él, entendiendo la astucia de ellos, les dijo:
Swahili	Yesu alitambua mtego wao, akawaambia,
Swedish	Är det lovligt för oss att giva kejsaren skatt, eller är det icke lovligt?" Men han märkte deras illfundighet och sade till dem:
Thai	ฝ่ายพระองค์ทรงหยั่งรู้อุบายของเขาจึงตรัสแก่เขาว่า "ท่านทั้งหลายท�"ลองเราทำไม
Ukrainian	Знаючи ж їхню хитрість, сказав �'ін до них: Чого ви Мене випробову�"те?
Uma	Yesus mpo'inca pepanawu' -ra. Toe pai' na'uli' -raka:
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "tempt": temptable, temptation, temptations, tempted, tempter, tempters, tempting, temptingly, temptress, temptresses, tempts. (additional references)
	Words ending with "tempt": attempt, contempt, reattempt. (additional references)
	Words containing "tempt": attemptable, attempted, attempting, attempts, contemptibilities, contemptibility, contemptible, contemptibleness, contemptiblenesses, contemptibly, contempts, contemptuous, contemptuously, contemptuousness, contemptuousnesses, reattempted, reattempting, reattempts. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Tempt" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: depmt, empt, hempt, tamt, tenpot, Timoti, timp, Tompot. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "tempt" (pronounced te"mpt)
5	t e" m p t	attempt, contempt.
4	-e" m p t	exempt, unkempt.
3	-m p t	bumped, camped, clamped, cramped, crimped, damped, decamped, dumped, encamped, humped, jumped, limped, lumped, plumped, preempt, prompt, pumped, revamped, slumped, stamped, stomped, stumped, swamped, thumped, trumped.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "e-m-p-t-t"
	-1 letter: temp.
	-2 letters: met, pet, tet.
	-3 letters: em, et, me, pe.
	Words containing the letters "e-m-p-t-t"
	+1 letter: tempts.
	+2 letters: attempt, tapetum, tempest, templet, tempted, tempter, trumpet.
	+3 letters: amputate, attemper, attempts, contempt, emptiest, impotent, palmette, palmetto, strumpet, tempests, template, templets, tempters, tempting, trumpets.
	+4 letters: amputated, amputates, apartment, asymptote, attempers, attempted, competent, contempts, impatient, impetrate, impotents, multiplet, multistep, nymphette, optometry, palmettes, palmettos, palmitate, pegmatite, permitted, permittee, permitter, potometer, pretermit, promptest, reattempt, strumpets, stumpiest, temperate, tempested, templates, temptable, temptress, trumpeted, trumpeter, umpteenth.
	+5 letters: apartments, asymptotes, attempered, attempting, compactest, competitor, completest, completist, complotted, department, deportment, empathetic, entrapment, hepatomata, heptameter, idempotent, impartment, impenitent, impetrated, impetrates, impotently, imputative, multiplets, nymphettes, omnipotent, optometric, outcompete, outtrumped, palmettoes, palmitates, pegmatites, pegmatitic, pentameter, pentstemon, permittees, permitters, permitting, petrolatum, photometer, photometry, portamenti, portamento, postmaster, postmortem, potometers, pretermits, protostome, reattempts, somatotype, stepmother, streetlamp, tempesting, temptation, temptingly, trumpeters, trumpeting, tryptamine, tympanites.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.