Adjacent Words

Temptation definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TEMPTA'TION, n. The act of tempting; enticement to evil by arguments, by flattery, or by the offer of some real or apparent good.
When the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. Luke 4.
1. Solicitation of the passions; enticements to evil proceeding from the prospect of pleasure or advantage.
2. The state of being tempted or enticed to evil. When by human weakness you are led into temptation, resort to prayer for relief.
3. Trial.
Lead us not into temptation.
4. That which is presented to the mind as an inducement to evil.
Dare to be great without a guilty crown,
View it, and lay the bright temptation down.
5. In colloquial language, an allurement to any thing indifferent, or even good.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: something that seduces or has the quality to seduce [syn: temptation, enticement]
2: the desire to have or do something that you know you should avoid; "he felt the temptation and his will power weakened"
3: the act of influencing by exciting hope or desire; "his enticements were shameless" [syn: enticement, temptation]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 13th century 1. the act of tempting or the state of being tempted especially to evil ; enticement 2. something tempting ; a cause or occasion of enticement

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a the act or an instance of tempting; the state of being tempted; incitement esp. to wrongdoing. b (the Temptation) the tempting of Christ by the Devil (see Matt. 4). 2 an attractive thing or course of action. 3 archaic putting to the test. Etymology: ME f. OF tentacion, temptacion f. L temptatio -onis (as TEMPT)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Temptation Temp*ta"tion, n. [OF. temptation, tentation, F. tentation, L. tentatio.] 1. The act of tempting, or enticing to evil; seduction. When the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. --Luke iv. 13. 2. The state of being tempted, or enticed to evil. Lead us not into temptation. --Luke xi. 4. 3. That which tempts; an inducement; an allurement, especially to something evil. Dare to be great, without a guilty crown; View it, and lay the bright temptation down. --Dryden.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(temptations) If you feel you want to do something or have something, even though you know you really should avoid it, you can refer to this feeling as temptation. You can also refer to the thing you want to do or have as a temptation. Will they be able to resist the temptation to buy? N-VAR

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(1.) Trial; a being put to the test. Thus God "tempted [Gen. 22: 1; R.V., 'did prove'] Abraham;" and afflictions are said to tempt, i.e., to try, men (James 1:2, 12; comp. Deut. 8:2), putting their faith and patience to the test. (2.) Ordinarily, however, the word means solicitation to that which is evil, and hence Satan is called "the tempter" (Matt. 4:3). Our Lord was in this way tempted in the wilderness. That temptation was not internal, but by a real, active, subtle being. It was not self-sought. It was submitted to as an act of obedience on his part. "Christ was led, driven. An unseen personal force bore him a certain violence is implied in the words" (Matt. 4:1-11).

The scene of the temptation of our Lord is generally supposed to have been the mountain of Quarantania (q.v.), "a high and precipitous wall of rock, 1,200 or 1,500 feet above the plain west of Jordan, near Jericho."

Temptation is common to all (Dan. 12:10; Zech. 13:9; Ps. 66:10; Luke 22:31, 40; Heb. 11:17; James 1:12; 1 Pet. 1:7; 4:12). We read of the temptation of Joseph (Gen. 39), of David (2 Sam. 24; 1 Chr. 21), of Hezekiah (2 Chr. 32:31), of Daniel (Dan. 6), etc. So long as we are in this world we are exposed to temptations, and need ever to be on our watch against them.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Enticement (especially to evil), allurement. 2. Bribe, bait, lure, decoy, golden apple, voice of the tempter, song of the sirens.

Moby Thesaurus

agacerie, allure, allurement, ambition, appeal, attraction, attractiveness, bait, beguilement, beguiling, bewitchery, bewitchment, blandishment, cajolery, cajoling, captivating, captivation, catch, charisma, charm, charmingness, coaxing, come-hither, come-on, dearest wish, decoy, desideration, desideratum, desire, draw, enchantment, enthrallment, enticement, enticing, entrapment, fascination, flirtation, forbidden fruit, glamour, glimmering goal, golden vision, hope, inducement, interest, inveiglement, invitation, lodestone, lure, magnet, magnetism, persuading, persuasion, plum, prize, pull, seducement, seducing, seduction, seductiveness, sex appeal, snare, snaring, tantalization, tempting, trap, trophy, winning ways, winsomeness, wish, witchery, wooing