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Tantalize   Listen
verb
Tantalize  v. t.  (past & past part. tantalized; pres. part. tantalizing)  To tease or torment by presenting some good to the view and exciting desire, but continually frustrating the expectations by keeping that good out of reach; to tease; to torment. "Thy vain desires, at strife Within themselves, have tantalized thy life."
Synonyms: To tease; vex; irritate; provoke. Tantalize, Disappoint. To disappoint is literally to do away with what was (or was taken to be) appointed; hence the peculiar pain from hopes thus dashed to the ground. To tantalize, a much stronger term, describes a most distressing form of disappointment, as in the case of Tantalus, the Phrygian king. To tantalize is to visit with the bitterest disappointment to torment by exciting hopes or expectations which can never be realized.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Tantalize" Quotes from Famous Books



... their bacon brains have such a taste As more delight in mast? No! set them forth a board of dainties, full As thy best muse can cull; Whilst they the while do pine, And thirst 'midst all their wine, What greater plague can hell itself devize, Than to be willing thus to tantalize? ...
— The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) - Volume I. • Theophilus Cibber

... rummaging among the tangle of decaying wood, feasting on the superabundant grubs and larvae. But no sooner did they notice the prisoner than all thought of food vanished. Like the jays, they never failed to take advantage of an opportunity to tantalize some other creature, especially if they found the ...
— The Black Phantom • Leo Edward Miller

... size, weighing thirty pounds each, round their necks. These cangues are so constructed that it is impossible for their wearers to raise their hands to their mouths for the purpose of feeding themselves, and it seemed to be a choice pastime for small boys to tantalize these criminals by placing food tied to the end of sticks just within reach of their mouths, and then suddenly withdrawing them. Apart from the weight of their fetters, and of the cangue in which they are thus pilloried, these men suffer ...
— The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither • Isabella L. Bird (Mrs. Bishop)

... expecting a glance from him, hiding, as she thought, this eagerness from all beholders. This moment is full of charm for one who can guess all that passes in a woman's mind. Who has not refrained from giving his opinion, to prolong her suspense, concealing his pleasure from a desire to tantalize, seeking a confession of love in her uneasiness, enjoying the fears that he can dissipate by a smile? In the course of the evening the law student suddenly comprehended his position; he saw that, as the cousin of Mme. de Beauseant, he was a personage in ...
— Father Goriot • Honore de Balzac

... know," said Lilly, her lips giving a sensitive quiver. "I've put it so out of my mind that it might only tantalize." ...
— Star-Dust • Fannie Hurst

... big striped tent yonder, supplied by a troupe of players which he had brought all the way from Palermo. As for the feast, well, the tables were already stretched under the trees, as they could see, and if any one wished to tantalize his nostrils just let him wander past the kitchen in the rear, where a dozen women had been at work since dawn. But that was not all; there would be gifts for the children and prizes for the best dancers. The handsomest woman would receive a magnificent shawl the like of which had never been dreamed ...
— The Net • Rex Beach

... simply has to be—it's Fate! If it wasn't meant to be, why have we met here like this? Do you think we two are mere toys in the grip of circumstances? Or do you believe the gods have crossed our paths again just to tantalize us? Is that why we are here, ...
— One Day - A sequel to 'Three Weeks' • Anonymous

... further footprints in the sand. At last it descended to a brook. I knelt to drink, and on getting up again saw my pocket-handkerchief whisking merrily away down stream. I gave chase, but in vain; for though it came to the surface once or twice to tantalize me it was gone before I could seize it. So I gave over the pursuit, reflecting that, after all, it might have fared worse with me. If the Lorelei had hoped to turn my head, I was well quit of my handkerchief ...
— Noto, An Unexplored Corner of Japan • Percival Lowell



Words linked to "Tantalize" :   razz, tantalise, bait, twit, barrack, taunt, chaff, gibe, scoff, mock, cod, Tantalus, tease, jolly, banter, kid, tantalization, tantalizer, bemock, jeer, rally, ride



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