amuse
verb
Simple meaning
Occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhmyoozSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əmˈjuz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion
transitive
To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions.
transitive
To cause laughter or amusement; to be funny.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion
Used this way, amuse is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use amuse
- “The play amused the ladies.”verb
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A feeling of delight at being entertained.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.