amuse

CEFRB1

/əˈmjuːz/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To make someone laugh or enjoy themselves.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To cause laughter or amusement; to be funny.

Examples

  • How will they amuse the children on a wet afternoon?

  • Small things amuse small minds.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude.

  2. To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions.

  3. To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder.

More examples

In context

  • His jokes rarely fail to amuse me.

  • I watch these movies because they amuse me.

  • It always amuses me to hear the funny stories why people haven't got a ticket, but I never let them get in without paying.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The clown's silly antics never failed to blank the young children at the birthday party.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Late Middle English *amusen (“to mutter, be astonished, gaze meditatively on”), from Old French amuser (“to stupefy, waste time, be lost in thought”), from a- + muser (“to stare stupidly at, gape, wander, waste time, loiter, think carefully about, attend to”), of uncertain and obscure origin. Cognate with Occitan musa (“idle waiting”), Italian musare (“to gape idly about”). Possibly from Old French *mus (“snout”) from Vulgar Latin *mūsa (“snout”) — compare Medieval Latin mūsum (“muzzle, snout”) –, from Proto-Germanic *mū- (“muzzle, snout”), from Proto-Indo-European *mū- (“lips, muzzle”). Compare North Frisian müs, mös (“mouth”), German Maul (“muzzle, snout”). Alternative etymology conn...