Word Meanings - AMUSE - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder. Camillus set upon the Gauls when they were amused in receiving their gold. Holland. Being amused with grief, fear, and fright, he could

Additional info about word: AMUSE

1. To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder. Camillus set upon the Gauls when they were amused in receiving their gold. Holland. Being amused with grief, fear, and fright, he could not find the house. Fuller. 2. To entertain or occupy in a pleasant manner; to stir with pleasing or mirthful emotions; to divert. A group children amusing themselves with pushing stones from the top , and watching as they plunged into the lake. Gilpin. 3. To keep in extraction; to beguile; to delude. He amused his followers with idle promises. Johnson. Syn. -- 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 a wakens the understanding or gratifies the fancy. Whatever diverts is lively in its nature, and sometimes tumultuous in its effects. Crabb.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of AMUSE)

• Divert
• Alter
• change
• deflect
• alienate
• delight
• please
• gratify
• entertain
• amuse
• Entertain
• Harbor
• maintain
• conceive
• foster
• receive
• recreate
• Tickle
• Titillate

Possible antonyms: (opposite words of AMUSE)

• Conserve
• retain
• stabilitate
• fix
• clinch
• stand
• endure
• last
• hold
• Eject
• expel
• discard
• discourage
• stifle
• exclude
• banish
• dismiss

Related words: (words related to AMUSE)

• MAINTAIN
  by the hand; main hand + F. tenir to hold . See 1. To hold or keep in any particular state or condition; to support; to sustain; to uphold; to keep up; not to suffer to fail or decline; as, to maintain a certain degree of heat in a furnace;
• RECEIVER'S CERTIFICATE
  An acknowledgement of indebtedness made by a receiver under order of court to obtain funds for the preservation of the assets held by him, as for operating a railroad. Receivers' certificates are ordinarily a first lien on the assets, prior to that
• DISMISSIVE
  Giving dismission.
• DELIGHTING
  Giving delight; gladdening. -- De*light"ing*ly, adv. Jer. Taylor.
• STIFLED
  Stifling. The close and stifled study. Hawthorne.
• EJECTOR
  A jet jump for lifting water or withdrawing air from a space. Ejector condenser , a condenser in which the vacuum is maintained by a jet pump. (more info) 1. One who, or that which, ejects or dispossesses.
• ALTERNATING CURRENT
  A current which periodically changes or reverses its direction of flow.
• DISMISSAL
  Dismission; discharge. Officeholders were commanded faithfully to enforce it, upon pain of immediate dismissal. Motley.
• RECEIVE
  To bat back when served. Receiving ship, one on board of which newly recruited sailors are received, and kept till drafted for service. Syn. -- To accept; take; allow; hold; retain; admit. -- Receive, Accept. To receive describes simply the act
• ALTERNATION
  Permutation. 3. The response of the congregation speaking alternately with the minister. Mason. Alternation of generation. See under Generation. (more info) 1. The reciprocal succession of things in time or place; the act of following and being
• DELIGHTLESS
  Void of delight. Thomson.
• CHANGEFUL
  Full of change; mutable; inconstant; fickle; uncertain. Pope. His course had been changeful. Motley. -- Change"ful*ly, adv. -- Change"ful*ness, n.
• RETAINMENT
  The act of retaining; retention. Dr. H. More.
• EJECTMENT
  A species of mixed action, which lies for the recovery of possession of real property, and damages and costs for the wrongful withholding of it. Wharton. (more info) 1. A casting out; a dispossession; an expulsion; ejection; as, the ejectment of
• STANDARD
  The proportion of weights of fine metal and alloy established by authority. By the present standard of the coinage, sixty-two shillings is coined out of one pound weight of silver. Arbuthnot. (more info) extendere to spread out, extend,
• ALTERNAT
  A usage, among diplomats, of rotation in precedence among representatives of equal rank, sometimes determined by lot and at other times in regular order. The practice obtains in the signing of treaties and conventions between nations.
• STANDPOINT
  A fixed point or station; a basis or fundamental principle; a position from which objects or principles are viewed, and according to which they are compared and judged.
• ALTERATION
  1. The act of altering or making different. Alteration, though it be from worse to better, hath in it incoveniences. Hooker. 2. The state of being altered; a change made in the form or nature of a thing; changed condition. Ere long might perceive
• HARBOR MASTER
  An officer charged with the duty of executing the regulations respecting the use of a harbor.
• DISMISS
  1. To send away; to give leave of departure; to cause or permit to go; to put away. He dismissed the assembly. Acts xix. 41. Dismiss their cares when they dismiss their flock. Cowper. Though he soon dismissed himself from state affairs. Dryden.
• DEJECTION
  1. A casting down; depression. Hallywell. 2. The act of humbling or abasing one's self. Adoration implies submission and dejection. Bp. Pearson. 3. Lowness of spirits occasioned by grief or misfortune; mental depression; melancholy. What besides,
• SUBALTERNANT
  A universal proposition. See Subaltern, 2. Whately.
• DEJECTORY
  1. Having power, or tending, to cast down. 2. Promoting evacuations by stool. Ferrand.
• FALTER
  To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley. Halliwell.
• BYSTANDER
  One who stands near; a spectator; one who has no concern with the business transacting. He addressed the bystanders and scattered pamphlets among them. Palfrey. Syn. -- Looker on; spectator; beholder; observer.
• MISALTER
  To alter wrongly; esp., to alter for the worse. Bp. Hall.
• REEXCHANGE
  To exchange anew; to reverse .
• AGAINSTAND
  To withstand.