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Entertain vs Attract - What's the difference?

entertain | attract |

As verbs the difference between entertain and attract

is that entertain is to amuse (someone); to engage the attention of agreeably while attract is to pull toward without touching.

As a noun entertain

is entertainment; pleasure.

entertain

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To amuse (someone); to engage the attention of agreeably.
  • to entertain friends with lively conversation
    The motivational speaker not only instructed but also entertained the audience.
  • (transitive, and, intransitive) To have someone over at one's home for a party or visit.
  • They enjoy entertaining a lot.
  • * Bible, Heb. xiii. 2
  • Be not forgetful to entertain strangers
  • To receive and take into consideration; to have a thought in mind.
  • The committee would like to entertain the idea of reducing the budget figures.
    to entertain a proposal
  • * De Quincey
  • I am not here going to entertain so large a theme as the philosophy of Locke.
  • * Hawthorne
  • A rumour gained ground, — and, however absurd, was entertained by some very sensible people.
  • (obsolete) To take or keep in one's service; to maintain; to support; to harbour; to keep.
  • * Shakespeare
  • You, sir, I entertain for one of my hundred.
  • (obsolete) To meet or encounter, as an enemy.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (obsolete) To lead on; to bring along; to introduce.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • to baptize all nations, and entertain them into the services and institutions of the holy Jesus

    Derived terms

    * entertainer * entertaining * entertainment

    Noun

    (-)
  • (obsolete) ; pleasure.
  • (obsolete) Reception of a guest; welcome.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , IV.8:
  • But neede, that answers not to all requests, / Bad them not looke for better entertayne […].

    Anagrams

    *

    attract

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To pull toward without touching.
  • * Derham
  • All bodies and all parts of bodies mutually attract themselves and one another.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Stephen P. Lownie], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/david-m-pelz David M. Pelz
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Stents to Prevent Stroke , passage=As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels. The reason plaque forms isn’t entirely known, but it seems to be related to high levels of cholesterol inducing an inflammatory response, which can also attract and trap more cellular debris over time.}}
  • To arouse interest.
  • To draw by moral, emotional or sexual influence; to engage or fix, as the mind, attention, etc.; to invite or allure.
  • * (John Milton)
  • Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze.

    Synonyms

    * allure

    Antonyms

    * repel