infatuation

noun

in·​fat·​u·​a·​tion in-ˌfa-chə-ˈwā-shən 

-chü-ˈā-

plural infatuations

1

: a feeling of foolish or obsessively strong love for, admiration for, or interest in someone or something : strong and unreasoning attachment

She speaks openly about the real-life subject of one of her songs, a conservatory teacher who is both a neighbor in her apartment building and the unwilling object of her obsessive infatuation.

—Sasha Frere-Jones

Craig Claiborne wrote about it in 1963, when he was deep in his infatuation with dill and meatballs and all things Nordic.

—Amanda Hesser

2

: the object of an unreasoning or foolish attachment

And then, I began trying to forge their autographs. I'm not sure why I did it at first, but it became an infatuation.

—Zach Selwyn

Synonyms

• crush
• mash
• passion

Examples of infatuation in a Sentence

had a brief infatuation with the captain of the ski team

Recent Examples on the Web

Elevated cortisol levels during romantic infatuation have been documented across multiple studies, suggesting that love initially activates the body's stress response, particularly the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. —Ximena Araya-Fischel, Forbes.com, 28 May 2025

Perhaps Arsenal and others would be better served refocusing their recruitment efforts on him — and letting the Isak infatuation go. —Mark Carey, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025

But the administration’s desire to avoid repeating the mistakes of 2008 and its infatuation with the hot economy hypothesis cost the economy dearly. —Jason Furman, Foreign Affairs, 10 Feb. 2025

Can’t Get Enough centers entrepreneur Hendrix Barry and her growing infatuation with tech worker Maverick Bell, and has already been praised by some of romance’s buzziest writers, like Talia Hibbert and Abby Jimenez. —Carly Tagen-Dye, People.com, 13 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1648, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing infatuation

• self-infatuation

Rhymes for infatuation

• abbreviation
• abomination
• acceleration
• accentuation
• accommodation
• accreditation
• acculturation
• accumulation
• acetylation
• adjudication
• administration
• adulteration