Intriguing
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 An intrigue. dated
"In all these negotiations, and caballings, and intriguings, the person most concerned, Frances Coke, the beauty and the heiress, was only the ball in the game."
- 1 present participle and gerund of intrigue form-of, gerund, participle, present
- 1 Causing a desire to know more; mysterious.
"As a result, while the train was being shunted at Bombay, the buffers became locked, producing a situation most intriguing for the onlookers, but exasperating for the exalted passengers and the unhappy railway authorities."
- 2 Involving oneself in secret plots or schemes.
"A book that does not sell us the powerful, intriguing women of Rome simply as poisoners, schemers, and femmes fatales […]"
- 3 Having clandestine or illicit intercourse. archaic
"[…] few respectable women will now sit at a window, looking into the public street, or gaze at passengers in any large town or city; and no one does so at present, unless an innocent inexperienced, husband-hunting, flirtish, or intriguing person."
- 1 capable of arousing interest or curiosity wordnet
- 2 disturbingly provocative wordnet
Example
More examples"It's an intriguing theory, but I don't see how it can be tested."
More for "intriguing"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.