Tantalize Meaning
/ˈtæntəlaɪz/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo tease (someone) by offering or showing them something desirable but leaving them unsatisfied.
verbTo be teased by something desirable that is kept out of reach.
Sentence Examples
The shiny display of jewels will tantalize any passerby in the street.
Tantalize is the American spelling of the word tantalise.
Advertisements often tantalize consumers with products they cannot afford.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The magician would ____ the audience by making the coin disappear and reappear without giving it away.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Advertisements often try to ____ customers with images of luxury products that they might want to purchase for themselves today.
Word Origin & History
From Tantalus (Ancient Greek Τάνταλος (Tántalos)) in Greek mythology, who was condemned to Tartarus in the underworld. There, he had to stand for eternity in water that receded from him when he stooped to drink, beneath fruit trees whose branches were always out of reach. Derived as Tantalus + -ize.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"They could not bear to be tantalized nor tortured by the splendid delusion."
— 1880, John Boyle O'Reilly, “The Land of the Red Line”, in Moondyne:
"All pleasures palled upon me; all sights tantalized and tempted me to outspoken treason, because I could not but compare what I saw in Two Dimensions with what it really was if seen in Three, and could hardly refrain from making my comparisons aloud."
— 1884, Edwin Abbott Abbott, “Other Worlds”, in Flatland, § 22:
"He had been possessed of much fear of his friend, for he saw how easily questionings could make holes in his feelings. Lately, he had assured himself that the altered comrade would not tantalize him with a persistent curiosity, but he felt certain that during the first period of leisure his friend would ask him to relate his adventures of the previous day."
— 1895 October, Stephen Crane, chapter XV, in The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 149:
"Then he signed the warrior to continue to shoot arrows into the great beast while he attempted to close in upon him with the knife; so as one tantalized upon one side, the other sneaked cautiously in upon the other."
— 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 124:
"“It was—simply amazing,” she repeated abstractedly. “But I swore I wouldn’t tell it and here I am tantalizing you.”"
— 1925, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter 3, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1953, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 53:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The magician would ____ the audience by making the coin disappear and reappear without giving it away.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Advertisements often try to ____ customers with images of luxury products that they might want to purchase for themselves today.