intriguing

adjective

in·​trigu·​ing in-ˈtrē-giŋ 

: engaging the interest to a marked degree : fascinating

an intriguing story

Synonyms of intriguing

• interesting
• fascinating
• engaging

Examples of intriguing in a Sentence

The Huns are intriguing not only because of their notoriously hawkish history, but also because of their place as middlemen between Mongol and Turkic ethnicity. —Victor L. Mote, Siberia, 1998

The next two phases of the Cambrian … mark the strangest, most important, and most intriguing of all episodes in the fossil record of animals—the short interval known as the Cambrian explosion … —Stephen Jay Gould, Natural History, July/August 1998

The folklorist Jan Brunvand has documented hundreds of "urban legends," intriguing stories that everyone swears happened to a friend of a friend … and that circulate for years in nearly identical form in city after city, but that can never be documented as real events. —Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct, 1994

The offer is very intriguing.

an intriguing concept that should engender much debate among climatologists

Recent Examples on the Web

Disney vet Jodie Foster in her first Disney animation voiceover role as the villain, Queen Celeste, is intriguing. — Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 15 Aug. 2026

Imagining a future after a disaster is one of the text’s central preoccupations, equally intriguing Vaz. — Dylan Adamson, Variety, 14 Aug. 2026

Many of these sounds, inaudible to humans until now, communicate intriguing and often important meaning. — The Christian Science Monitor, Christian Science Monitor, 13 Aug. 2026

The schedules for opening night and Christmas already were unveiled this week, so those two games were among the most intriguing matchups not yet known. — Brian Mahoney, Los Angeles Times, 13 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

see intrigue entry 1

First Known Use

1752, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for intriguing

• fatiguing