Entertain

//ˌɛntəˈteɪn// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Entertainment; pleasure. obsolete, uncountable

    "And Celſo, prethee let it be thy care to night / To haue ſome pretty ſhew, to ſolemnize / Our high inſtalement, ſome muſike maſkerie: / Weele giue faire entertaine vnto Maria […]"

  2. 2
    Reception of a guest; welcome. obsolete, uncountable

    "But neede, that answers not to all requests, / Bad them not looke for better entertayne […]"

Verb
  1. 1
    to amuse (someone); to engage the attention of agreeably transitive

    "to entertain friends with lively conversation"

  2. 2
    take into consideration, have in view wordnet
  3. 3
    To have someone over at one's home, or some other venue, for a party or visit. intransitive, transitive

    "They enjoy entertaining a lot."

  4. 4
    maintain (a theory, thoughts, or feelings) wordnet
  5. 5
    to receive and take into consideration; to have a thought in mind transitive

    "The committee would like to entertain the idea of reducing the budget figures."

Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    provide entertainment for wordnet
  2. 7
    to take or keep in one's service; to maintain; to support; to harbour; to keep obsolete

    "Intreat 'em fair, and give them friendly speech, And seem to them as if thy sins were great, Till thou hast gotten to be entertain'd."

  3. 8
    to meet or encounter, as an enemy obsolete

    "O noble English, that could entertain with half their forces the full pride of France"

  4. 9
    to lead on; to bring along; to introduce obsolete

    "to baptize all nations, and to entertain them into the services and institutions of the holy Jesus"

  5. 10
    to help; to assist; to answer a phone call India, Malaysia, Philippines, sometimes

Synonyms

All synonyms
harboraccommodateadmitallowamuseamusement

Antonyms

All antonyms
bore

Example

More examples

"Now let me entertain you with music."

Etymology

From Middle English entertenen, from Middle French entretenir, from Old French entretenir, from entre (“among”) + tenir (“to hold”), from Latin inter + teneō (“hold, keep”). For the noun, compare French entretien. Sense of answering a phone call in Malaysian English is influenced by Malay layan “to serve, to attend to or engage with something”.

Related phrases

keep occupiedmovies tvprovide fun

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.