Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Amuse |
AmuseVerb1. Occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion; "The play amused the ladies". 2. Make (somebody) laugh; "The clown amused the children". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "amuse" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
AMUSE | English | Advanced Multimedia Services for Residential Users | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: AmuseSynonyms: disport (v), divert (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Amusement | Verb: amuse, entertain, divert, enliven; tickle the fancy; raise a smile, put in good humor; cause laughter, create laughter, occasion laughter, raise laughter, excite laughter, produce laughter, convulse with laughter; set the table in a roar, be the death of one. |
Amuse oneself, game; play a game, play pranks, play tricks; sport, disport, toy, wanton, revel, junket, feast, carouse, banquet, make merry, drown care; drive dull care away; frolic, gambol, frisk, romp; caper; dance; (leap); keep up the ball; run a rig, sow one's wild oats, have one's fling, take one's pleasure; paint the town red; see life; desipere in loco, play the fool. | |
Pain | Bless, beatify; satisfy; gratify, desire slake, satiate, quench; indulge, humor, flatter, tickle; tickle the palate; (savory); regale, refresh; enliven; treat; amuse; take one's fancy, tickle one's fancy, hit one's fancy; meet one's wishes; win the heart, gladden the heart, rejoice the heart,bless, beatify; satisfy; gratify, desire slake, satiate, quench; indulge, humor, flatter, tickle; tickle the palate; (savory); regale, refresh; enliven; treat; amuse; take one's fancy, tickle one's fancy, hit one's fancy; meet one's wishes; win the heart, gladden the heart, rejoice the heart, warm the cockles of the heart; do one's heart good. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I'll just amuse myself with some pornographic playing cards (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) If you want to, you can lay me over the table and amuse yourself (C'era una volta il West; writing credit: Dario Argento; Bernardo Bertolucci) I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you (Goodfellas; writing credit: Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese) I've had two. They amuse me immensely (Ideal Husband, An; writing credit: Oscar Wilde; Oliver Parker) Ha ha, you amuse me, Mr. Bond (A View to a Kill; writing credit: Richard Maibaum) | |
Lyrics | I used to amuse you (Special; performing artist: Garbage) | |
Clever | It takes more money to amuse today's children than it took to educate their parents. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Amuse Yourself (1936) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
David Garrick | Cards were at first for benefits designed, sent to amuse, not to enslave the mind. |
Edmund Burke | Young man, there is America, which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage men and uncouth manners. |
Henry Brooks Adams | Everyone carries his own inch rule of taste, and amuse himself by applying it, triumphantly, wherever he travels. |
Marguerite Gardiner Blessington | We never respect those who amuse us, however we may smile at their comic powers. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
John Locke | 1690 | But whatever flatterers may talk to amuse people's understandings, it hinders not men from feeling; and when they perceive, that any man, in what station soever, is out of the bounds of the civil society which they are of, and that they have no appeal on earth against any harm, they may receive from him, they are apt to think themselves in the state of nature, in respect of him whom they find to be so; and to take care, as soon as they can, to have that safety and security in civil society, for which it was first instituted, and for which only they entered into it. (Second Treatise of Government) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Amuse yourself, roundly |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | JESTER, n. An officer formerly attached to a king's household, whose business it was to amuse the court by ludicrous actions and utterances, the absurdity being attested by his motley costume. The king himself being attired with dignity, it took the world some centuries to discover that his own conduct and decrees were sufficiently ridiculous for the amusement not only of his court but of all mankind. The jester was commonly called a fool, but the poets and romancers have ever delighted to represent him as a singularly wise and witty person. In the circus of to-day the melancholy ghost of the court fool effects the dejection of humbler audiences with the same jests wherewith in life he gloomed the marble hall, panged the patrician sense of humor and tapped the tank of royal tears. The widow-queen of Portugal Had an audacious jester Who entered the confessional Disguised, and there confessed her. "Father," she said, "thine ear bend down -- My sins are more than scarlet: I love my fool -- blaspheming clown, And common, base-born varlet." "Daughter," the mimic priest replied, "That sin, indeed, is awful: The church's pardon is denied To love that is unlawful. "But since thy stubborn heart will be For him forever pleading, Thou'dst better make him, by decree, A man of birth and breeding." She made the fool a duke, in hope With Heaven's taboo to palter; Then told a priest, who told the Pope, Who damned her from the altar! Barel Dort |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Amuse" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 82.96% of the time. "Amuse" is used about 223 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 82.96% | 185 | 22,646 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 14.8% | 33 | 60,273 |
| Noun (singular) | 2.24% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Total | 100.00% | 223 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "amuse": amuse one's guests ♦ amuse oneself. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "amuse": amuse-gueules. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
amuse | 41 |
amuse bouche | 16 |
2 amuse click | 12 |
amuse restaurant | 8 |
amuse click | 7 |
amuse gueule | 6 |
amuse s2000 | 6 |
amuse muse | 5 |
amuse new restaurant york | 4 |
amuse educate enrich fool.com main page | 3 |
amuse bouche recipe | 3 |
2 amuse click com | 2 |
amuse rubber stamp | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "amuse"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | amuseer. (various references) | |
Albanian | dëfrej (dally, entertain, jollify, joy, make whoopee, rejoice). (various references) | |
Arabic | سلى (beguile, console, divert, entertain, solace), ألهى (beguile, distract, divert), أضحك (make laugh). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | разсмивам (make laugh, make smb. laugh), развличам (divert, recreate), занимавам (entertain, exercise), забавлявам (divert, entertain, lark, panic, regale). (various references) | |
Chinese | 使娛樂 , 发笑 (Amused, Amusing), 娛 . (various references) | |
Czech | rozptýlit (banish, diffuse, dispel, disperse, dissipate, distract, divert, resolve, strew), obveselovat (entertain), bavit (entertain). (various references) | |
Dutch | onderhouden (conserve, keep, maintain, preserve, support), amuseren. (various references) | |
Esperanto | amuzi. (various references) | |
Farsi | مات ومتحیرکردن , مشغول کردن (Busy, Employ), تفریح دادن (Entertain, Recreate), سرگرم کردن (Entertain, Inveigle, Occupy, Please, Sport), جذب کردن (Absorb, Attract, Imbibe, Magnet, Sop, Sponge). (various references) | |
Finnish | huvittaa (divert, entertain, interest). (various references) | |
French | amuser. (various references) | |
Frisian | fermeitsje. (various references) | |
German | belustigen (entertain, to amuse), amüsieren (to amuse), unterhalten (abet, entertain, entertained, feed, hold underneath, keep, maintain, operate, run, support, sustain, talken, to amuse, to entertain), vergnügen (amusement, delectableness, delight, enjoyment, entertainment, fun, play, pleasure, pleasures). (various references) | |
Greek | διασκεδάζω (beguile, disport, enjoy, entertain, frolic, gallivant, have fun, I enjoy myself, jollify, junket, recreate, revel, skylark, sport). (various references) | |
Hawaiian | dëfrej. (various references) | |
Hebrew | לשמח (cheer, delight, elate, exhilarate, gladden, rejoice), לשעשע (divert, tickle), לשחק (lark, play), לב"ר (delight, divert, entertain, scatter, sport), לב"ח. (various references) | |
Hungarian | szórakoztat (entertain, to amuse, to beguile, to distract, to divert, to entertain). (various references) | |
Indonesian | menyenangkan orang. (various references) | |
Italian | divertire (amuse oneself, divert, enjoy oneself, entertain, have fun, panic, recreate). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 面白がる (to amuse oneself, to be amused, to enjoy, to think fun), 興ずる (to amuse oneself, to make merry), 興じる (to amuse oneself, to make merry). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | おもしろがる (to amuse oneself, to be amused, to enjoy, to think fun), きょうずる (to amuse oneself, to make merry), きょうじる (to amuse oneself, to make merry). (various references) | |
Korean | 즐겁게 하십시". (various references) | |
Manx | cur taitnys da (gratify, please). (various references) | |
Maori | whakataakaro-tia (to amuse). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | amuseay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | entreter (divert, entertain, have, recreate, wile), divertir (amusing, beguile, disport, divert, entertain, exhilarate, jollify, kittle, recreate, tickle), diverta. (various references) | |
Romanian | amuza (divert, entertain, recreate, tickle). (various references) | |
Russian | забавлять (amused, divert). (various references) | |
Scottish | breug (cajole, entice, falsehood, lie). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | zabavljati (disport), zabaviti (entertain), uveseljavati (regale). (various references) | |
Shona | -fadza (to amuse). (various references) | |
Spanish | divertir (divert, entertain, tickle), entretener (allay, beguile, delay, detain, distract, entertain, hold up, keep, keep waiting, kill, maintain, occupy, put off). (various references) | |
Swedish | roa (distract, divert, entertain, tickle). (various references) | |
Turkish | oyalamak (delay, divert, embroider, entertain, put off, stall, stall off, string along, temporize, waste smb.'s time), neşelendirmek (animate, brace, brace up, brighten, buck up, cheer, cheer up, elate, enliven, exhilarate, hearten, inspirit, light, light up, liven, liven up, quicken, revive, spirit, spirit up, vivify), güldürmek (make laugh, make smb. laugh, set smb. laughing, tickle), eğlendirmek (beguile, break up, divert, entertain, feast, recreate, regale, tickle), eğlendírmek. (various references) | |
Turkmen | gьяmemek (detain, entertain). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | спантеличувати (blank, delude, fog, mystify, puzzle, slew), розважати (beguile, divert, entertain), коротати дозвілля, відволікати (abstract, distract, divert, put off), відвертати (abstract, alienate, anticipate, avert, award, head off, preclude, prevent, turn away, ward), бавити. (various references) | |
Welsh | difyrru (beguile, divert), diddanu (comfort, divert). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | delectabar, delectaberis, delectabit, delectabitur, delectabor, delectabunt, delectabuntur, delectamini, delectans, delectare, delectari, delectaris, delectasti, delectat, delectata, delectati, delectatur, delectatus, delectaverunt, delectentur, delecteris, oblectabit, oblectantur, oblectare, oblectaret, oblectat, oblecteris. (various references) |
| Anglo-French | 1100-1600 | disporter. (various references) |
| Middle French | 1400-1600 | amuser. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "amuse": amused, amusedly, amusement, amusements, amuser, amusers, amuses. (additional references) | |
Words containing "amuse": hippopotamuses, ignoramuses, mandamused, mandamuses, shamuses, unamused, wamuses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Amuse" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: aduse, amaise, amasa, amase, amasse, amise, ammasse, amoce, amoe, amosa, amose, Amouyel, Amsa, Amsel, amu, amuesha, amure, amus, amusee, amuss, amuze, Anosov, anse, anue, anusser, Aoussou, apuse, aquse, aruse, asume, asuse, aume, ause, Ausi, emise, empusae, Imus, Kamuza, Mabuse, Maese, Mapusa, maues, Mause, mauze, vamuse. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "amuse" (pronounced umyuw"z) |
| 5 | u m y uw" z | bemuse. |
| 4 | -m y uw" z | muse. |
| 3 | -y uw" z | abuse, accuse, confuse, cues, defuse, diffuse, disabuse, ewes, excuse, fuse, Hews, hues, infuse, miscues, misuse, overuse, pews, queues, recuse, refuse, reuse, reviews, revues, skews, spews, suffuse, transfuse, use, views. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-m-s-u" | |
-1 letter: amus, emus, maes, mesa, muse, same, seam. | |
-2 letters: amu, eau, ems, emu, mae, mas, mus, sae, sau, sea, sue, sum, use. | |
-3 letters: ae, am, as, em, es, ma, me, mu, um, us. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-m-s-u" | |
+1 letter: amused, amuser, amuses, assume, masque, mauves, meatus, medusa, muscae, mutase, summae, ulemas, unseam. | |
+2 letters: acumens, almuces, almudes, ampules, amulets, amusers, amusive, armures, assumed, assumer, assumes, caesium, heaumes, humates, macules, magueys, makeups, malleus, manures, marques, masquer, masques, masseur, matures, maulers, maumets, measure, medusae, medusal, medusan, medusas, meshuga, mezuzas, mucosae, muletas, mutases, mutates, pneumas, remudas, sambuke, serumal, squamae, strumae, summate, sunbeam, surname, unmakes, unseams, uremias, wamuses, zeugmas. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Historic 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Abbreviations 16. Acronyms | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
