beguiling

[bih-gahy-ling]

adjective

1. having the power to charm or divert the attention; intriguing.

   a beguiling smile.

Other Word Forms

• beguilingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of beguiling¹

First recorded in 1575–1600; beguil(e) ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

"I think it presented so much that was beguiling to contemporaries, but also clearly that Bowie himself found fascinating."

From BBC

How could audiences not fall head over heels, or imagine themselves in his boots, when he’s the beguiling picture of real-life attainability?

From Salon

“Fox” hauntingly explores the way that beguiling figures can inspire, create and shape art.

From Los Angeles Times

Their intersection is beguiling, a knockout experiment in form that questions everything and finds few answers.

From Salon

Now the formally restless Susan Choi turns to social realism in her beguiling if baggy “Flashlight,“ mapping a family’s journey among political autocracy and personal pain, from Midwestern cornfields to the Pacific Rim.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bogus 
• deceitful 
• dishonest 
• distorted 
• erroneous 
• fake 
• fanciful 
• faulty 
• fictitious 
• fraudulent 
• improper 
• inaccurate 
• incorrect 
• invalid 
• misleading 
• mistaken 
• phony 
• specious 
• spurious 
• unfounded