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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

amuse.

To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/əˈmjuːz/
  1. To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions.

    transitive
    I watch these movies because they amuse me.
    It always amuses me to hear the funny stories why people haven't got a ticket, but I never let them get in without paying.
  2. To cause laughter or amusement; to be funny.

    transitive
    His jokes rarely fail to amuse me.
  3. To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude.

    archaic · transitive
  4. To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder.

    archaic · transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Old French a- Medieval Latin musumder.? Old French muser Old French amuserbor. Middle English *amusen English amuse From Late Middle English *amusen (“to mutter, be astonished, gaze meditatively on”), from Old French amuser (“to stupefy, waste time, be lost in thought”), from a- + muser (“to stare stupidly at, gape, wander, waste time, loiter, think carefully about, attend to”), of uncertain and obscure origin. Cognate with Occitan musa (“idle waiting”), Italian musare (“to gape idly about”). Possibly from Old French *mus (“snout”) from Vulgar Latin *mūsa (“snout”) — compare Medieval Latin mūsum (“muzzle, snout”) –, from Proto-Germanic *mū- (“muzzle, snout”), from Proto-Indo-European *mū- (“lips, muzzle”). Compare North Frisian müs, mös (“mouth”), German Maul (“muzzle, snout”). Alternative etymology connects muser and musa with Frankish *muoza (“careful attention, leisure, idleness”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtǭ (“leave, permission”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to acquire, possess, control”). This would make it a cognate of Dutch musen (“to leisure”), Old High German *muoza (“careful attention, leisure, idleness”) and muozōn (“to be idle, have leisure or opportunity”), German Muße (“leisure”). More at empty.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.